Feuding Hatreds
by RoryReneeMercedees
Summary: Secrets, lies, and confusion ensue as the seventh year students move into their final year. Everyone has a secret that could potentially ruin their lives and with so much hate flying around the room, somebody's going to end up crying. I don't own anything
1. Three hours

AN: Another story might be a bad idea, considering I have more than five unfinished ones… but…

Summary: What started off as a detention turned into a bonding experience as six people with hatreds deeper then blood are shattered.

Professor McGonagall read the names out loud, even though she could clearly see that all of the six students were here. She didn't know why she felt the need to do it, she just did. Maybe it was to show them how disappointed she was that they were all here. Maybe it was because she didn't know how to respond to the situation that had occurred two days before.

Of all of the problems her house had ever had, she had never had problems like she did for her current sixth and seventh years. They simply hated each other. Well that wasn't completely true. There were many friendships and relationships formed but there were just as many hatreds and fights to match them.

Minerva McGonagall couldn't understand.

At a time like this, they should all be sticking together and forming the alliances they needed to survive such harsh conditions that the outside world contained. With her house containing the most muggle born students, their top propriety should be to protect each not to harm each other. She wasn't quite sure what had happened between these students but enough was enough. They had to learn.

And she'd be damned if she didn't teach it to them before they left the school.

"Black, Sirius." Her voice was cool. It wasn't an unusual sight to see Sirius and/or one or more of his companions in detention. Although she had to admit, it was becoming less and less of a problem because she knew the four mischievous boys were growing into men.

Sirius on the other hand was not thinking positive thoughts about his professor. In fact, his thoughts were rather unkind and unjust.

He didn't deserve to be here. If Evans would stop being a bitch, he would have never been involved in this. He hadn't always hated Lily. In fact, he'd once been rather fond of her. He had even hoped she would date his best friend. But all of that had been shot to hell.

She was fine, actually, if she never opened her mouth. She had wide, stunning bright green eyes which were nothing short of intelligent. Her flaming red hair was beautiful and reached long down her back; many male eyes followed it down the lengths of her back and imagined just what else Lily might have to offer but knew their advances on her would be fruitless and dangerous for them while James Potter still had eyes for her. Sirius was one of those men. But, you couldn't blame a guy for looking and besides Sirius knew she was pretty, anyone with eyes did but he, as mentioned before, hated her. She had a flattering figure with curves in all of the right places. She was nothing short of gorgeous.

But when she opened that trap of hers, Sirius couldn't help but hate her. At first, he acknowledged that she had a point. When his best friend, James Potter, had started asking her out she'd simply said no, without even a little bit of vindictiveness. He supposed James's persistence did get annoying and Sirius felt that Lily had every right to snap at him, if it was the only way to get her point across. But Sirius reckoned a simple "I don't like you" would do. Yes, she would have had to use a little force and James certainly wouldn't take "no" for an answer but Evans had become downright mean.

Every word that was directed in James's way was spiteful. She didn't spare his feelings, not once. She called him whatever named popped into her pretty little head without a care about how much her words hurt. She took misguided assumptions towards James and turned them into a full out hatred, one that wasn't at all justified. She judged him for what he was like two years ago without any regard for how he had changed within those two years. She had no respect whatsoever for James and seemed to think just because he fancied her, she could say whatever she pleased against his name.

And Sirius had had enough of her bullshit.

In short, if she'd just been a little nicer and a hell of a lot more considerate, Sirius wouldn't be here.

"Evans, Lily."

Lily looked up for her essay and raised her hand. Her face was set in a deep frown and her eyes were defiant. She looked positively pissed. And for the other five people that were currently stuck with her, that was a problem.

She couldn't believe she was here. Damn Sirius Black. She was head girl for Merlin's sake; she didn't deserve to be treated like some common hooligan. She wasn't even like them. She wasn't a troublemaker and she certainly had done nothing more than defend herself; it really wasn't her fault that so many other people had decided to join in on a fight between her and Back.

And in actuality, Black had started it.

He had called her a bitch. It was a pathetic insult coming from someone who barely knew her. It was true, they'd spent the last six years together but the only time she'd even seen Sirius was in the company of James Potter. And Lily wanted nothing to do with him.

But for whatever reason, his insult had stung. Black had never been anything but nice to Lily and she had the suspicion that Black wanted Lily to date James and thought that a good way to start a relationship between the two was for them to have a friendship. Although they were civil with each other and, on several occasions, had defended each with the loyalty of a true, they weren't really friends. They had very little in common.

Or so they thought. But Lily, nor Sirius for that matter, knew that at this time.

But when Lily was offended or hurt, she tended to fight. It started as an argument but then everyone else had to go tangle themselves into it. And it had turned into something much more than a petty fight over James Potter.

She didn't know how or why this feud had started, but it tore Gryffindor in two. A deadly problem for all students concerned. Among the things Lily did know was that she hated all of the people currently present and stuck with her for the next three hours.

And really, a three hour detention. Wasn't that a little much?

"Longbottom, Frank."

He sighed and threw his arm into the air with a quick glare at his professor. He wasn't even involved with the whole damn ordeal. He was just passing by. If that bat-boogie curse sent by stupid Alice Prewett hadn't hit him, he wouldn't even be wasting his time here.

But, alas, the curse had hit him. And he did send a stunning spell right back at her. Granted, she dodged it. Their particular duel (for theirs was only one of many that had taken place in the third floor corridor two nights ago) had been cut short by McGonagall before it had even began. It was a shame, really, Frank was looking forward to it.

He wasn't like the rest of them. Actually he was better than all of them put together. He may have been placed into Gryffindor because of his bravery but that didn't mean that he didn't think that muggles weren't scum. It was the opposite, actually. They were pathetic, the whole lot of them. They didn't belong and they only messed with the order that was established by the great pureblood families before him. But that didn't mean that he wanted them killed. It just meant he didn't like them.

He hated every single person in this room and he didn't fancy sitting here with them for three hours one bit.

Just wait until his father hears about this. He thoroughly hoped Dumbledore was punished for this. Even though, it wasn't strictly his fault, he never should have allowed it to happen. Frank being punished for something that hadn't been his fault. And to be treated the same as mudbloods! Honestly, it was ridiculous.

"McDonald, Mary."

Mary nodded in the elder ladies direction, her gaze not moving away from the wall.

She, too, didn't want to be here. It really wasn't her fault. Sirius and James never fought. Ever. So she was more than a little surprised when they had a full out duel over Lily Evans. Big whoop, someone dared insult the princess. What will anyone ever do? The world was ending. Oh, no!

Well Mary had news for everyone. The world was ending long before anyone bothered to say something against Miss Evans. If anything, what Sirius said to Lily made perfect sense. She really deserved most of it.

But make no mistake, Mary hated Sirius. She just happened to agree with him on one point. Their mutual loathing for Lily Evans. In fact, before they hated each other- or Lily for that matter- it was Lily who had brought them together. But, Mary and Sirius didn't last long.

It wasn't for that reason that Mary hated Lily. It wasn't because she had set her friend up with a complete tosser. The fact that Lily had managed to break them up had been the real issue.

Needless to say, Mary hadn't exactly minded when Sirius threw his first curse at Lily. But when James, who despite his ties with Sirius, was actually close to Mary, joined in and was attacked by both Lily and Sirius, Mary had joined the dispute without really knowing it. Her hand had moved without her brain's permission and had fired the sixth and seventh spells against her housemates.

But when Mary had fired at Lily, James had fired at Mary making everything more tense then it already was.

"Potter, James."

He sighed and looked at the professor with apologetic eyes. He hadn't intended for this mess to be started but he reckoned it was his fault entirely. He wished he would have thought rationally.

But he hadn't.

Instead he had openly fired on two of his best friends and had dragged two innocent people into the crossfire. He regretted it immensely. Poor Alice was only trying to protect her friends.

Although James knew Frank was a tosser, James _was_ head boy and knew it was his duty to keep innocent bystanders innocent. And he had failed his responsibilities as head boy just like Lily had told him he would.

But with the thought of Lily, James's head spiraled off into a land of fantasy. One where he was good enough for her. One where she loved him and would never leave him. But he knew, that would never happen. Especially in light of recent events.

He had only tried to protect her. Sirius was deadly in a duel. James knew that Lily was a strong fighter (he had been on the receiving end of her curses) but Sirius was provoked and that was dangerous. And he couldn't stand to see Lily hurt. So he did the only thing he could think of, he stepped in the fight.

He had only meant to stop their fight but he had somehow been sucked into the fighting himself. He was fairly certain that he had really started fighting Sirius after he had heard Sirius call Lily a bitch. But he couldn't be certain. It could have been how he laughed at Lily's pain. It could have been the fact that Lily hadn't been aiming to hurt Sirius, merely disarm him and stop the duel. But to Sirius it didn't matter because he was determined to make Lily pay… for whatever it was that he thought she should pay for. In truth, it was all of those things allotted with the cruel comments aimed at Lily for the last two years.

He sighed. This would be a long three hours.

"Prewett, Alice."

She was the only one to respond verbally with a faint "here, professor". She grimaced at the sharp look that she received for said professor and even more and she saw the looks of hatred from almost everyone around her.

Alice was the only person in this room who did not hate anyone. In fact, she had deep ties to most of them, though most everyone present had declared them unimportant for selfish reasons.

Lily had been Alice's first friend when they had first arrived at the school. In fact, Alice, Mary, Lily, Hestia Jones and Marlene McKinnon had been best friends for six years. But when Mary and Lily fought of Sirius Black, Marlene, Hestia, and Alice had been forced to choose between their two best friends. Marlene had chosen Lily's side insisting that Lily had done nothing wrong and that Sirius had no right to make Mary choose between him and Lily; his personal vendetta against Lily had nothing to do with his relationship with Mary and if he couldn't get over it, then Lily was right, he didn't deserve Mary. Hestia had simply refused to pick a side. And although both parties had disliked her choice, they didn't make any move of protest; no one went against Hestia, she knew too much about everyone and when crossed, showed no shame in divulging everyone's secrets. But Alice had no such luck. When she refused point black to pick a side, both parties had disowned her, leaving Hestia as her only friend.

Sirius, James, Alice, and Frank had all known each other since both since they all came from pureblood families. Well, that was completely true. Alice, Frank, and James had all known each other personally but they had only known of Sirius. They had probably met on several occasions although were convinced by feuding parents that the other party was scum because of their beliefs. James and Alice had a well established relationship. Although they weren't winning any friendship awards, they were friends. And they knew, if the time came, they'd have each other's backs. Sirius and Alice's friendship was a little rockier, though just as established. Their friendship had begun on Halloween their first year. They had both dressed as vampires and discovered that had a lot in common. They had tried dating in fourth and six year, but had discovered it hadn't worked. Though it did cause some problems for their relationship. And Sirius hadn't forgiven Alice for not picking his side in the fight over Lily.

Alice didn't really have a relationship with Frank. She used to, when they'd been in first year. But she had made her sentiments known about how she felt on blood status (which was that she didn't care) and he hated her for it though she didn't know the reason. She wished she had a relationship with him, though for she had fancied him for quite some time. It was no use, she knew because she had just as much chance with Frank as James had with Lily.

And everyone knew that would never happen.

As for why she was here, it was simple. She only wanted everyone to stop fighting and to talk about their differences. She had accidently hit Frank Longbottom and thoroughly regretted it. She was stung when he attempted to hit her with a stunning charm. She had thought, just for a second, that he might be the tosser that James insisted he was but then realized that he was simply defending himself and that he had no idea why he had been hit with a hex.

And that was the everyone's side of the story.

"Alright, I'll be back in three hours. You cannot leave the classroom nor can you find any entertainment from anything but each other. Hopefully, these three hours will teach you all respect for one and other. And for those who only had pure intentions for joining this duel, I'm heartily sorry that you were involved."

She walked out of the room, closing and locking the door with a click and a thud. Suddenly, all six Gryffindors realized what this meant and stared at the spot Professor McGonagall had been paralyzed with fear.

They all reached for the wands defensively, but remembered, with a sigh of relief, that their teacher had taken them in order to prevent the chances of another duel within their hours of detainment. They stared at each for a moment, blinking as they took in their surroundings. Not one of them could believe they were actually here. They all hoped it was some terrible dream.

Finally, Lily broke the silence by saying incredulously, "You've got to be kidding me. I'm stuck with the five of you?"

The way she said it, made it clear to all parties that she wanted nothing to do with any of them. It made them all seem like scum and pissed more than a few of them off. In fact, it only increased the tensions within the room.

"It's not like any of are really thrilled to be graced with your presence either, princess." Sirius mocked, his tone threatening.

"Well actually, I'd say Potter's relishing in fact that he gets to spend three whole hours with Evans where she can't escape him. Honestly, I almost pity you, Evans." Frank added, nastily.

"Shut up. You leave James alone. He only wanted to stop this dumb fight." Mary screeched, her voice reaching a unusually high pitch.

"Well aren't we all glad James had a new addition to his fan club? And here I though Alice was alone. How nice it is that you two have company in you fruitless pursuit." Sirius added.

"You leave Alice alone, Sirius. She had nothing to do with this and you know it." James said sternly.

"Careful, Evans, you might have competition." Frank added, lightly though his voice still had a nasty ring to it.

"He's all yours, Prewett. That is, if you can manage to stay loyal to him for more than five minutes." Lily said with conviction.

"That was uncalled for Lily!" James protested. "Take it back."

"Why should I? You going to bully me into it? Are you going to hex me until I do? Or are you simply going to call me names and make my life a living hell. Or do I get special treatment. Do you just follow me around for six years asking me out until I finally tire and just take it back simply to make you go away?" Lily asked.

"Shut up, bitch." Mary snapped, having heard enough and seen the look of pain cross his face.

They broke out into their individual fights, each word becoming harsher and harsher, each insult becoming more and more vindictive until Alice had had enough.

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!"

They were all taken by such surprise, that they did. And that's when Alice realized that this may very well be the longest three hours of her life.


	2. Misconceptions

AN: Another story might be a bad idea, considering I have more than five unfinished ones… but…

Summary: What started off as a detention turned into a bonding experience as six people with hatreds deeper then blood are shattered.

Alice stared at everyone. She hadn't really thought through what she was going to say, she just knew if they didn't shut up her head would explode. Now they all looked at her like she had grown three heads.

"Thank you." She said softly but firmly. "We're all stuck here for three hours, are we not?" She waited for everyone to nod and then continued. "Good, we all understand that. Now, I'd like to leave here with my head still intact and I'd like to believe that you are all of the same opinion. Am I correct?" Again, she waited until everyone had nodded.

"I know we've all had our differences and most of us hate at least one person in this room. I understand that we may never all like each other but I'd like to remind everyone that we all used to be friends, in some way or another. Lily didn't always hate James, sure she'd been annoyed with him on the train but she hadn't hated him until around the second month of first year. Sirius didn't always hate Lily; actually I seem to recall Sirius defending Lily when Avery called her a low-life mudblood. Mary didn't always hate Lily or me. For that matter, we were best friends up until a month ago and then Sirius, who now hates me as well, made all of us pick a side because Lily was unjust to James. Lily didn't always hate me, either. She and I were the best of friends. We even planned on living together after school was done. We insisted we'd make the best flat-mates ever."

"And I'm sure I could pick out quite a few more hatreds. Mary to Sirius and vice versa. Frank to James and James to Frank. Frank to Sirius and Frank to Lily. Mary to Frank… and oh, everyone pretty much has a mutual hate towards Frank and Frank hates everyone just the same. And we know the hatreds continue. But why? McGonagall is right. We should be protecting one and other not trying to harm each other. Could we all just try, for three hours to get along?"

Alice spoke in vain, though. She may have effected Lily, Mary, and James with her wise words but Frank and Sirius did not give up old grudges because a few pretty words were spoken. Sirius, though, may have at least attempted to bury the hatchet for James sake, if it hadn't been for Frank opening his mouth.

"Why? I don't give a damn about any of you. I don't want to protect you, not one of you; I couldn't care less if you all ended up dead tomorrow."

And then the fighting began, but this time it was four against one, everyone set fire by the prospect of another dying. Frank was outnumbered and his voice was buried deep into the sound of the others shouts. But instead of being mad at this outburst, as was expected, she couldn't really bring herself to be. Honestly, she had no idea why she had even liked Frank so much. He disgusted her now. She was even tempted to join the fighting.

But she didn't.

Again she spoke up, but this time hoping to join everyone together, well everyone but Frank, with the mutual hate of Frank. "Look at you. I suppose you don't realize that the four of you are on the same side, do you? I reckon you all forgot in the haze of anger. But look it, you all work splendidly together. Can we just make it through this detention peacefully?"

"Fine." Lily said, she needed to finish her essay anyways.

"Whatever." Mary grumbled resuming her staring. The wall was really interesting. Not.

"If it'll make you shut up, then hell yes." Frank said snottily.

"Can I punch him first?" James asked hopefully. When Alice shook her head, James sighed and begrudgingly agreed, opening his charms book. He might as well finish his essay.

There was silence. The other five were waiting for Sirius to agree with the others. They waited in silence but Sirius didn't say a word. Instead he looked at each and every one of them in the eye. No one could say it was a particularly pleasant experience. In fact, most everyone was hoping Sirius say something much like they had so that they could have a good three hour silence.

Unfortunately, that's not what they got. "No."

"What?" All five chorused in disbelief.

"You heard me. No. We have some issues to work out. All of us." Sirius said, his eyes sliding from person to person. "McGonagall and Prewett are right. We all don't have to like each other. Not one bit. But we can't hate each other, either. We need to be able to work together because our lives may very well depend on it."

They all stared at Sirius, flabbergasted. None of them were expecting _that_. He had completely changed sides in a matter of minutes and not one person, besides Sirius, in that room could understand why.

"It starts now."

"What do you suppose we do then? Talk to each other one and one and 'work out our differences?'" Frank said, his voice condescending.

"That's exactly what we are going to do, with a few altercations. We're going to go over this fight, just like it happened. We are going to discuss exactly what happened. It starts with Lily and I and then moves on with James adding to the mix. We will hear all sides of the story and will keep our fat arses shut until everyone is done, understood." Sirius voice was low and dangerous, daring anyone to stand against him.

"Well I see, since Sirius Black says it'll be this way, it'll be this way. Good, I'm glad we've all come to agreement and can think for ourselves. It's really assuring to know that we all have minds of our own run by our own decisions and lead by our own thoughts and opinions, not by some low-life scumbag who thinks that whatever he says is right, no matter how many friendships he ruins in the process." Mary was sarcastic and mean but there was a hint of bitterness that could only come from a broken heart.

"He's right." Everyone's head turned in Lily's direction, surprised that she agreed with Sirius. "The head boy and girl can't even get along during weekly meetings. Honestly, we're all pathetic. And Mary, this is why we need this. We didn't all hate each other. A bunch of friendships were ruined over one decision. We can't keep this up. It'll be the death of us, I'm sure of it."

And with Lily and Sirius on the same side, the matter was settled.

* * *

"If you would just open your eyes and looked at James, really looked at my dear Prongs, you'd see how heartless you were being. Do you have any idea what you do to him? Do you know how much pain you are capable of causing him? I doubt it because you've got your pretentious attitude and a stick so high up your arse that no one can dare reach you."

If it really needed to be stated, this wasn't going exactly as planned. They had only meant to talk, really. But somehow this had turned into a screaming match between Sirius and Lily but Alice reckoned that this was good progress because they needed to start the communication somewhere.

It hadn't been anyone's fault that this fight had started, they both stated their sides of the story respectively, and leaving out a few choice words they knew would upset the other. In fact, Alice was really proud of the two of them. They had managed to talk civilly for more than five minutes, it was rather nice progress. But their sides of the story didn't really mesh well together. You see, Lily had one opinion of James and Sirius and Sirius had one opinion of Lily. Really, they had hoped to change the other's view and to enlighten the other to their higher thought process of themselves.

With such egos floating around the two of them, it was no wonder they started screaming at each other.

"Oh, make me the bad guy. _I_ wasn't the one who made fun of people every single day for two straight years. _I_ wasn't the one who would pick on people so much that they full out hated themselves_. I'm_ certainly not the one who thinks they are better than everyone else. _I'm_ not the one that struts around school like _I'm_ the shit. _I'm_ not the one who acts like rules are above and therefore should have no affect whatsoever about my going ons. Sorry if I stand up for what I believe and hate dimwitted bastards."

"Damn Evans! Would you let the past go? Yes we know we were tossers. We know we were arrogant and ignorant and full of shit. We know that were out of line and I'll be damned if we don't regret it. We did many-a-things we shouldn't have. We've done many things that could've gotten people seriously hurt. I've done many things that could have gotten certain people hurt. But you have to know Lily, that night in fifth year when Snape was pranked by us, it wasn't what it seemed."

"Yes, James was all for teaching Snape a lesson on how to stay out of other people's business, but I took things too far. If James hadn't gone after him, your precious Snape would be suffering a fate worse than death. And James didn't go after him because he wanted to impress you. You were the farthest thing from his mind. He went after him because he would never wish for someone to suffer like that because, contrary to your belief, he has a heart."

Everyone stared in Sirius and then slowly turned their head to James, who was staring at them with a dear-in-the-headlights look. No one but Lily, James, and Sirius really understood what they were talking about but they understood the significance all the same. James hated Severus Snape more than anyone in the world. But there were more reasons to that then met the eye…

And just the fact that Sirius had called Snape by his name and not his nickname for him showed real progress. Snivellus, was the rude nickname that James had given to Snape on the train before their first year and had caught on like rapid-fire to the whole school. But Sirius had helped spread it when James and Sirius had hit it off when they discovered that they were roommates.

Sirius, who listened to the silence and decided it said that he could continue, went on as if nothing had passed. Even though he knew it had. But this time, his voice was softer, he was no longer mad just… trying to make Lily understand. "I know James and I can be prats. We have been and we still are. But we've grown up quite a bit and James did it all for you. I'm not telling you how to feel because I know you can't control that. I just want you to know the real James before you dismiss him because I don't think you'd dismiss him quite as easily if you knew how loyal he could be or how when no one knows what to do he steps in and takes away everyone's fear but if you never take the chance, take the risk, to let yourself understand then you'll miss out on quite a bit."

Sirius, now having made his point to the fullest extent, was rather pleased with himself.

"I- I- I didn't know…" She trailed off but her eyes stayed glued to James.

James, who hadn't yet been included into the "discussion", was rather surprised with the turn of events. He had never expected Sirius to open up like that. To be honest, James was embarrassed. Though it supposed it was easier to open when the secrets he was divulging were James's and not his own.

"I know you didn't but now you do. Please take that in consideration next time you insult James."

Lily didn't respond but they both knew she would.

Alice jumped to stop anything unpleasant from running the very pleasant progress that had just been made. "Okay. Good. Now, James was next to jump into the fight. Why?"

James looked around. He wasn't ready to be included. He was actually rather fond of watching and listening, if you were to ask him but then again, no one had. He really didn't want to say anything wrong or act like a prat. He certainly didn't want to lose the progress he had made with Lily today. He didn't know how he'd handle it.

He knew he had to choose his words carefully. He had to act respectively and talk honestly in order to keep the peace. He swallowed and realized that all eyes had once again turned to him. It wasn't the good kind of attention he was receiving, either. It was the kind where you had to explain yourself and make yourself vulnerable. And James didn't like it.

"I jumped in to protect Lily." James put a hand up to stop Lily's protest and said calmly, "I know we all know she's a damn good fighter. I think I would know better then some, being on the receiving end more than once." He let everyone around him chuckle.

So far so good, James thought.

"But Sirius was aiming to you hurt you, Lily, and you were only trying to disarm him. I probably shouldn't have jumped in and I'm sorry. I just can't stand to see you hurt."

Lily made a noise in the back of her throat, causing the attention to shift to her. She was opening and closing her mouth like a fish. No one had ever seen Lily at a lost for words. She looked at Sirius and he gave her a meaningful look. Lily bowed her head in shame. She had never felt like such a bitch in her entire life.

James watched Lily carefully. It saddened him that he had upset Lily but he was being honest. She didn't seem mad, just perplexed. The look she gave him wasn't of pity, which he had expected but it was as if she was looking at him for the first time. And she definitely liked what she saw. It made his stomach flutter and his heart pound. Merlin, he was a goner.

"But you," James voice got harder as he turned to Sirius. "You had no right to call her a bitch or fire any sort of spell at her. I don't care if you felt obligated as my friend to fight for me. This so called 'battle' was mine to fight, not yours and how dare you take what isn't yours to say and slap Evans in the face with it. Maybe she didn't have a right to say those things against me. Maybe you had a point but honestly, last time I checked the insults were directed at me. Not you. Me."

"I- James! It wasn't my fault. I just got so mad. You let her walk all over you. You act like a dog and drool at the sight of her. She kicks you out in the cold and you do it with your tongue hanging out of your mouth. It's not fair to you to be treated this way and since you wouldn't say anything to her then someone had to step up and grow a pair."

"That 'pair' was mine to grow. Not yours."

"Oh, I see how it is. I act like a true friend, put my life on the line for you and for what? As long as I don't have long legs and red hair, it'll never be okay. But she," Sirius pointed at Lily. "Can get away with anything."

Mary couldn't help herself at this point, she leaned over to James and whispered, "Now that's something I never want to imagine again: Sirius with long legs and red hair."

They both laughed a little under their breath until the where shushed by a snickering Alice (she too, had heard and imagined the Lily version of Sirius).

"You're pathetic, saying I'm not loyal to you. I'd die for you and you know it." James said his face red.

"But who would you rather die for, me or her?" Sirius said.

And James finally understood.

"Sirius, just because I have feelings for some girl doesn't mean I'll ever stop being friends with you. You're my best friend and you know more about me then everyone put together. Mate, you're like a brother."

"You didn't answer the question." Sirius said but this time jokingly.

"I hope I never have to." But James muttered this under his breath.

* * *

"You bitch!" Sirius screamed, rounding on Mary.

"Oh, I'm the bitch. I'm not the one whining to James because I feel left out. 'Oh, James! What would I do without you? Pick me over Lily; I have longer legs.' Honestly, I expect you to propose tomorrow."

Everyone watching the fight had to hold back their laughter.

"You're a two-timing cheater who wouldn't know loyalty if it bit you in your fat arse. You don't understand the meaning of the word loyalty. In fact, I'm fairly certain I've given you a dictionary on several occasions. Did those not help? Oops, I forget sometimes, Mary here is so dumb she doesn't even know how to read."

"Sirius, I ought to kill you for that. You're a jackass!" Mary said.

Everyone else looked stunned. Mary rarely threatened anyone. And Mary? A cheater? Sirius must have hit his head or something because that was way out of line. Their break up had been strictly over Lily, or had it…?

"Two syllables. I'm proud of you, Mary. Now if we could just improve those marks, you'd be set for life."

"Okay, okay. ENOUGH!" Lily said. She looked weary; she was fully prepared for one of them to jump out of their seats and lunge at the other. "What needs to be understood here is that Mary jumped in because Sirius and James never fight and it scared her. What happened between you two needs to be let go. I'm sorry for setting you two up and even sorrier for breaking you up but enough is enough. You two can't hate each other because you two weren't happy together."

"Is that what she told you?" Sirius asked, not moving his glare for Mary. "Did she blame this whole thing on you? Yes, we fought over you, I won't deny it but it wouldn't have broken us up. I cared about her too much. Damn it, I loved her! But that feeling wasn't returned. How many others were there?"

Sirius's voice was shaking with rage. He was glaring at Mary with bitter hatred. He couldn't ever forgive her.

"She cheated on me with a muggle. I guess it was the perfect secret. He would never know you were a witch and couldn't possibly find out about me. I probably wouldn't have found out either if it weren't for his letter falling out of your book. Care to tell them how long this had been going on because I think I'd like to know, as well."

There was no answer from Mary, just a bowed head and tears.

"Padfoot, mate, let it go."

Sirius turned his head to James and whispered so only he could hear, "I can't."

* * *

"You're a sick bastard, you know that!" James spat at Longbottom.

"Absolutely disgusting." Added Lily.

"I can't believe I liked you!" Alice said, jerking her head around to face him.

"You make me sick. I suppose you hate Lily and I because of who are parents are then, right?" Mary said as her face turned red.

"You're just like them. You're a freaking death eater!" Sirius growled.

"No! I'm not. Muggleborns aren't bad people, guys. They just aren't as good as purebloods. We just need to be separated is all."

"Why? They're people just the same as we are. They eat, they shower, they sleep, and poop just the same as us. They have feelings and thoughts. They work just as hard, if not harder than we do." There was a pointed look towards Lily. "The break the rules and follow the rules just as well as we do. They have parents and brothers and sisters just like we do. They fall in love just as easily and they break up with people just as easily as we do. They can perform spells just like us, most of the time better because they have more drive to be good then use lazy purebloods. So why the hell should they be separated from us."

Sirius voice had grown hoarse from all the yelling. In truth, he was rather sick of it. His head hurt and so did his throat. He glanced at the clock. He was fairly certain detention was almost over. And he spent most of the time yelling at people.

"I- I-" Frank began but was cut off.

"I-I-I what? What do you have to say for yourself?" James demanded.

"I don't know."

* * *

"You all can go now." Professor McGonagall said, her face a tight line of disappointment.

Mary and Alice were the first to leave, their heads bowed in shame but their arms linked, once again a unit. They reached for Lily but she told them she had to talk to McGonagall and not to wait up for her but she did promise she'd sleep in the Gryffindor tower tonight so that the five girls could catch up and reform bonds. Frank stared after them, watching Alice's figure retreat. He couldn't explain what he was feeling, but he left quietly and quickly feeling the need to go on a walk to untangle his thoroughly tangled thoughts. James and Sirius grinned at the professor, bowing their way out.

She had to suppress a laugh. Really, they weren't bad at all, those boys. Lily made a mental note to slap herself… and pay Remus the five gallons she now owed him… stupid bet.

"Professor?" Lily asked once everyone had left.

"Yes, Miss Evans?"

"Thank you."

And she walked out the door, leaving the professor to stare at where she had been in wonder.

AN: I have nothing against Frank Longbottom. In fact, this was just how he was raised to think. He'll change his mind… and we all know he marries Alice, so I guess that was a given.


	3. Nowhere safe

AN: I like this story a lot. Some have said its cliché, but I honestly don't think so. I mean, think about it. Does it really surprise any of you that Lily and James would get detention for fighting? Well technically, it started with Lily and Sirius, but I don't think that was surprising, either. If you have any questions or comments, let me know with a review because I them almost as much as I love my darling readers.

Moving on…

* * *

Remus Lupin was pretty sure all hell had frozen over. Or that the world was about to end (which actually wasn't all that surprising considering the recent events with "he-who-must-not-be-named").

Sitting in the corner of the Gryffindor common room, chatting pleasantly, were two of his best friends: Lily Evans and Sirius Black. Now, to anyone else this would seem like a completely normal occurrence but since he was Remus Lupin and nothing in Remus Lupin's life was simple, it wasn't. They hated each other. In fact, just three days ago they had gotten into a pretty serious duel (no pun intended).

He was now thoroughly confused.

Marlene McKinnon walked into the room and Remus's eyes followed her. He wondered if she had the answer to the question that was currently puzzling him but was distracted by the way her hips moved when she walked. He couldn't see her face, as her back was now facing him, but he imagined that she had a smile on her innocent face and that her blue eyes were smiling as well. Her hair was curly, today and Remus was sure that her hazelnut hair was framing her face beautifully.

It really wouldn't be uncalled for to talk to her, Remus reasoned. Actually, this mystery was her business as well as his. She couldn't reasonably see anything wrong with him coming to her about the friends they both loved deeply. Just because the two of them had a couple of… issues didn't mean that they weren't allowed to talk nicely, right? If Sirius and Lily could do it, why could he?

But Remus knew he was only doing it because he wanted to talk to her.

"Marlene." Remus called softly. He was hurt when she didn't respond. But he continued, nonetheless. "What's up with Sirius and Lily?"

Marlene turned around, looking positively pissed. Remus blanched and took a step back. He really hadn't thought through this carefully enough. She might just kill him. And Remus was quite sure he was fond of breathing.

Marlene was contemplating killing Remus. In fact, she was past that. She was now considering the death that would be most painful.

She couldn't believe he was doing this. Marlene was so sick of his mind games. It wasn't her fault she had liked him! And she was damn sure that Remus had like her back. Sirius had told her so. So she didn't understand why she had been rejected. It had broken her heart. The way he had demised her, it was just plain cruel. She didn't deserve the indifference. Lily wasn't even that mean to James. She always gave James a reason why she hated him and she never responded with indifference, she always got angry, enough question whether or not she actually hated him; most of the time Lily avoided James. Marlene knew that it was because secretly Lily hated hurting James.

But Remus, he offered none of the things that Lily offered James. She closed her eyes, trying not to remember what had happened, but realized she couldn't. Not with Remus so close.

_They were sitting in the library in the third row of books on the window seat. _

_Marlene was excited. He and Remus were alone. She couldn't ignore the butterflies or her heart beating dangerously fast. And Remus was alone with her! Granted, she'd asked him to help her study but that was beside the point. He was here, alone with her. And Sirius had told Marlene that Remus liked her. _

"_So what is it that you don't get?" Remus asked. _

_Remus's eyes looked straight into Marlene's eyes. His hands were restless, moving from resting on his thighs, to his essay, and his hair (a nervous habit he had picked up from James, Marlene assumed) in a spasmodic way that let Marlene know that Remus was nervous. She was fairly certain that he was itching to touch her in some way. It made her very satisfied with herself. _

"_Why you haven't kissed me yet?" Marlene answered, leaning in towards Remus. _

_Remus, too, leaned in. His hands, found her waist and his lips found hers. It was a soft and gentle kiss but Remus pulled away too quickly, with a look of guilt on his face. _

"_What's wrong?" Marlene asked, her voice hurt. _

"_We can't do this!" Remus shouted, sounding mad. _

"_Do what? Kiss?" When he nodded she looked at him like he had three heads. "Why the bloody hell not?" _

"_Because." And then Remus Lupin walked away, leaving Marlene alone. _

There had been another encounter, as well. He told her he had no feelings for her and he was sorry if he led her on. He also told her that they couldn't be friends because it just wasn't a good idea. He offered her no explanation and left her in the dark.

So was it really a surprise that Marlene was a little mad that he was talking to her now?

"I don't know and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." Marlene spat.

She started to walk away when Hestia Jones joined them. She glared at Remus.

"There's something… off about you, Remus Lupin. And you can bet your sorry arse that I'll figure out what it is."

Hestia grabbed Marlene's arm and together they walked away. Remus swallowed. Hestia was scary.

* * *

It was after charms. Lily noticed that James had left his book at his table. She gingerly picked it up and pocketed it. She walked out of the room and looked left and right down the corridor. She was pretty sure that the boys had went to lunch next so she headed towards the Great Hall, intent on giving James his book back.

When she saw the four boys, she knew something had happened. They were all bent over a piece of parchment looking as if their lives depended on it. They were whispering and it almost looked like they were having a heated debate.

"She's coming!" Sirius coughed, unsuccessfully attempting to make it so only his three other companions could hear and not Lily.

They all looked at her. Lily shifted on her feet but held her head high. She was doing nothing wrong, she told herself. She was only here to give Potter back his book.

"Hey Lils." Remus said, not meeting her eyes. That concerned her.

"What are you four up to?" Lily asked, suspiciously.

"Nothing, flower. I'm astonished that you would think so low of us! It hurts." Sirius mockingly put his hand to his heart, faking a look of despair. "If the future Mrs. Potter doubts us then what will become of us? Everyone run for your lives!"

Sirius attempted to run away but Lily grabbed his arm.

"I wasn't trying to start anything. I was just… I just came here to speak to James. That's all. If this is a bad time, then I'll leave. I- I'm-I'm sorry if I interrupted anything." Lily said and then turned on her heel.

She was halfway down the hall when James caught up with her.

"Wait! Lily, wait!" She turned around. "You wanted to talk to me?" James said with eyes full of hope.

"Yeah… I, er- you-this." Lily took a deep breath. "You left this in the classroom." She said whiles taking James's charms book out of her pocket.

"Oh. Is that all?" She handed him his book, which he took.

"Yeah…"

James turned to leave. His was now thoroughly confused.

"Wait!" Lily called. "That wasn't everything I wanted to say. I wanted to apologize for everything. For every insult and glare and anything else I did that offended you. I'm really sorry. I never thought that you were ever sincere and it was incredibly self-centered and rude of me to act the way I've acted. In fact, I've let the past dictate my opinion on you for way to long. I was hoping we could start over. That is, if you want to. If you don't want to, that's fine. I could understand why you wouldn't want to be my friend after every mean thing that I've ever done to you but even if you don't want to be friends, I think we should be civil; I mean, we're heads together and everything. We share a dorm… I just… I'm rambling and I probably look like a complete idiot, don't I?"

James was staring at Lily.

He hadn't expected her to say that and her certainly did expect her to be so nervous. Lily was always confident and she always knew what to say. Expect he wasn't so certain that was true.

But why the hell would she believe that he didn't want to be her friend? Granted, he wanted to be much more than a friend but if that's all she would allow, then that's what he'd take. Plus, he figured if they became friends there would be a better chance her feelings would change for him because she would actually get to know him. He didn't want to seem arrogant, if fact, he didn't think she would fall for him; he was only hoping she was. Because if she didn't give him a chance before they graduated then he wasn't sure what he'd do. This year was his last chance.

And he really, truly loved Lily.

"Lily Evans, you never cease to surprise me. Do you know that? Why wouldn't I want to be your friend?" James said, trying his best not to offend her.

"I don't know. I just figured since I'd gone six years without really knowing you that I couldn't reasonably assume that you'd jump for joy with whatever I had to say. I'm sure you're tired of me accusing you of being arrogant when I'm the bloody arrogant one. I'm sorry for being a hypocrite. I just always assumed that you'd be infatuated with me. I guess it was better than facing the truth."

James stared at Lily. He was one-hundred percent confused.

"The truth? What exactly do you think the truth is?" James asked her.

She slide down the wall and hide her face in her hands. "That no one likes me like that." She said it meekly, like she was surrendering with no hope.

"Lily, that's the farthest thing from the truth. Do you know how many guys Sirius and I have hexed because they looked at you? Did you ever wonder why anyone who ever showed any interest in you suddenly wouldn't look at you? Course, we actually only hexed a few blokes. A couple we just threatened… Then word got around. No one dared to look at you. I'm sorry I did that to you. I was a bloody arrogant toad. I deserved a lot of what you said. But I want to show you that I've changed." James eyes begged Lily's to believe him.

"But you don't like me now?" Lily's eyes bore into James's.

James didn't know the right answer. On one hand, he could tell her the truth and on the other he could lie to her. If he told her the truth one of three things would occur: it would ruin their barely formed friendship and James would have no chance with Lily, Lily would say they could be friends even though he liked her and their relationship would be significantly awkward, or Lily would jump into his arms and profess her deep and passionate love for him. He doubted it would be the last choice. If he lied to her, she would continue to feel awful and she might possibly put the blame on him because he had scared away all possible candidates just to give up himself. James was in a wee bit of a spot.

"Anyone who doesn't like you is a tosser, Lily." James answered diplomatically.

"You never answered my question, James."

"Oi! Prongs!" Sirius Black yelled. "Conference now!"

"I'll, ah, just be right back, Miss Evans." James said with a smirk plastered on his face.

James was going to kill Sirius. Or thank him. He wasn't sure which quite yet. James had been getting on quite well with Lily, better then he'd ever in the six years that he'd known her but Sirius had saved him from a very uncomfortable answer that James wasn't sure he could answer.

"What!" James asked.

Sirius looked pale. He looked scared. Something wasn't right.

"Listen, mate. Someone has to be with 'Miss Evans' at all times from now on." Sirius said, his eyes portraying nothing. "Understood?"

"What happened?" James demanded.

So Sirius recounted what he had overheard just moments before.

"_There are too many of them to make an attack now. It wouldn't be safe and you know as well as I do that the consequences will be severe if we fail." Someone whisper-yelled. Sirius thought the voice sounded familiar. _

"_Listen to me, Reg, if we don't attack now the consequences will be severe. I say we go after Potter and his gang. It's time they learn what it means to be a blood traitor, eh?" Someone whispered back to his brother. _

"_How about, Sev, we attack a certain red haired mudblood. Hmmm?" _

"_Don't call me Sev!" Severus Snape muttered. "Attacking Lily Evans would be stupid. She has Potter watching her every move and his friends will be there to help. Plus Lily's friends would be added to the mix and we'd be outnumbered." _

"_Now Sev, I believe you don't want us attacking Lily Evans for another reason. Care to explain that one?" _

"_She means nothing to me. I was just merely pointing out that she wouldn't be an easy target. That's all." Severus pleaded. _

"_Neither would Potter's gang." Regulus Black said slowly. _

"_Sure there aren't any reasons you want to go after Evans and not them? Do you miss your dear brother? I hear he moved out of your house. Did that make poor Reg sad? I bet you cried when he left. It's such a shame that your traitor brother left without even saying goodbye. You may have hard feelings about it, Reggie, but he doesn't. You mean nothing to him because he is scum." Severus said. _

"_The both of you are protecting scum! It's despicable!" A female voice said viciously. Sirius recognized it as his cousin, Bellatrix. "Why don't we go after both of them? Huh? I'll send word that we need reinforcements because you two dimwits are incompetent." _

"_That won't be necessary, Bella. We can do it." Regulus assured her. _

"_It won't be a problem." Severus said, his voice week. _

"_Good. But we spare the purebloods." Sirius heard his brother let out a sigh of relief. "Our Lord will deal with them. He says he knows how to make them join us. Don't worry, Reggie, my dear cousin will be joining us soon. But, poor Sev will have to prove his loyalty. He'll kill the mudbloods."_

James and Sirius stared at each other. Both knew what this meant. Nowhere was safe. There was a war raging everywhere, even here at Hogwarts.

"Someone has to stay with Mary, as well." James said.

"Not me." Sirius growled. "I don't want anything to do with her."

"Fine, ask Remus." James sighed. "But I'm staying with Lily. And we all stick together. Got it?"

* * *

The five girls sat together, all excited to be friends again. They knew that at the moment their friendship was very delicate and they knew that, for the moment, they'd have to keep all topics light and fluffy. Or… most of them did. Hestia, who hadn't really been bothered by the split between her friends, did not sense the tension in the room or she was just hell-bent on ignoring it was not going to pick her words carefully. They were her friends and they never should have doubted each other in the first place. If you asked her, this whole fight was just plain dumb. They shouldn't have been even considering picking anyone over their friends. Sirius Black simply wasn't worth the time of day. Sure, he was good looking but he was just a boy and honestly, Sirius's reasons weren't even right! They were about James. Well, fiddle de dum. Last time Hestia had checked, James could handle his own problems and didn't need his boyfriend to do it for him. It was pathetic, the way those two hung on to each other like their lives depended on it. She secretly hated them both. They were trying to steal her friends away.

So Hestia had stolen her friends back and made them unattainable.

"Honestly, do you see how James Potter was messing up his hair today? And I'll be damned if Sirius wasn't hitting on me, that prat. I swear there's something wrong with Remus, too. And Peter's just plain creepy; how he ever managed to become friends with those three, I'll never understand. Bunch of gits, all of 'em." Hestia said, hoping that they'd all join in and bash the marauders with her. "Bloody perfect for each other."

"James messes with his hair when he's nervous. It's bloody annoying, I'll admit but he doesn't need to be made fun of! And when did Sirius hit on you? He doesn't like you very much. He told me so. There's nothing wrong with Remus. You really need to stop meddling into other's business, Hest. It's not right. And you leave Peter alone. It's not his fault he looks the way he does." Lily shot back. She'd just gotten on good terms with the marauders; she didn't want anything ruining their newfound friendship that quickly.

"I agree with what Lily said. Although, if James weren't like a brother, the messing up the hair thing would be kind of cute. Wouldn't you agree, Lily?" Alice asked, her face teasing.

"It doesn't matter if I did or did not find him cute, he doesn't like me anymore." Lily said.

Her stupid ego was wounded. How James get over her just like that? He'd spent years trying to win her over and for what? To give up? What happened to the ever persistent, annoying James Potter? Lily was fairly certain she wanted him back.

"Over you? You've got to be kidding me! He'd take a curse for you any day! Where did you hear a silly thing like that?" Mary asked, astounded.

"We were talking earlier- civilly, I might add. He didn't say that he was over me but it was implied. He gave me the whole 'any bloke who doesn't fall for you is an idiot' routine." Lily sighed. "Besides this might be a good thing." Lily added as an afterthought.

"Lils, why do you sound so down about this?" Marlene mocked mercilessly.

"I'm not down." Lily said defensively. "I'm ecstatic. I'm going to throw a party. We can invite all of the sixth years. Yippie!"

But Lily didn't sound happy.

"Yeah, Lil. That sounds like a great idea." Hestia encouraged. "We'll throw a party. But not because of Potter. He's a dumbass." Hestia held her hand up to silence her four protesting friends. "The marauders can be invited. We're going to celebrate that the five of us are back together."

They all agreed and went to bed.

Meanwhile the marauders were planning way to keep the girls safe.

* * *

AN: Frank and Peter weren't in this chapter but they will be next chapter. So don't you worry. Tell me how you feel about all of the relationships I have started. Also, in the books we find out that Sirius wasn't fond of Hestia Jones. The reason why will be revealed in the next three or four chapter. So you'll just have to keep reading. Again, I love my reviews only slightly less then you all, so please, review.

Loves to you all!


	4. Flashback

AN: hey there. I'm in a really sucky mood right now. So this chapter might reflect that. I apologize in advance.

Does anyone else have a crazy family? Ugh.

Also the beginning argument won't make sense until James and Lily flashback to what happened during the previous days. So bare with me for the beginning, okay? Oh, and I'm only showing the really important facts, there may be more revealed later on in the story. Tell me if this is too confusing.

* * *

"James Potter, I wouldn't date you if you were the last man on earth!" Lily screamed as she felt her voice go hoarse and her throat sore.

She had been screaming at Potter for the last twenty minutes. Honestly, she had no idea how she had put up with him for last the week. Everything he told her had been a lie. If that in itself wasn't bad enough, she had believed his stupid lies with the eagerness of a lovesick puppy. Lily couldn't believe her rotten luck.

This whole friendship, everything he told her about his family or about his feelings was false. His father was alive, not buried deep in some cemetery out in Godric's Hollow. His mother wasn't stricken with grief and hopelessly insane. He probably never even had a brother who was killed in a freak accident. He hadn't befriended her because he liked her, he had done it because he wanted to play hero and protect her from the big scary Slytherins! The pathetic git!

And worst of all, he didn't have feelings for her. In fact, she was nothing more than a chase. Maybe it was only to get into her trousers. But regardless, she had fallen for him. Well sort of. She liked him, yes, but she was quite sure she didn't love him. Or his lies.

"Oh that's rich!" James yelled back, taking a step towards Lily. "I actually think you would. I know for a fact that you love me!"

"I do, do I?" Lily screamed with indignation. "And you know this how?"

"Because I can see it in your eyes. I can hear it in your voice." James said while his voice rose dangerously high.

"Really, can you now? Did you ever stop to think that I only pretended to care about you?" Lily smirked, her anger bubbling at his hurt expression. "Do you think I'd really love you? You're pathetic. But you're not the only one who can't paint a pretty picture and tell a few lies, Potter. I really had you going, didn't I? I got you to tell me what was going on. I learned all of the marauder's secret weapons. I figured everything out. And all it took was a flirty smile and a few false words. You're pathetic."

"You manipulated me?" James asked incredulously.

Lily nodded, her eyes gleaming with rage.

"I don't believe you. You want to know why?" He waited for her to respond but seemed to realize she wasn't going to. "Because you can't lie to save your life, _Lils_. When professor McGonagall asked what happened to the polyjuice potion stolen from Slughorn, you became a stuttering fool. That's why!"

"Or it just proves that I'm a far better actress then you knew. I didn't steal the potion; I haven't the faintest clue about who stole the potion and I couldn't care less. I needed to get in detention so I could talk to Remus so I said I used it to prank Sirius. And Sirius, for whatever reason, went with my story."

"You didn't steal it? Then who did?" James asked feeling very confused.

"It doesn't matter. We stopped the fight that was supposed to happen. We've done our part and now I'd like life to go back to exactly how it was before. I liked hating you and you can go back to moping in a broom cupboard for all I care!"

Lily stormed out of the room. She wanted nothing more than to forget that this past week had happened. But she knew that wasn't possible. She was never going to forget this week. Its funny how you think you know someone only to be proven incorrect falsely and then be proven that your original thoughts on the person were correct. It made no sense at all.

She let her mind flashback, wondering if she'd missed something.

**Five days before**

_The five girls went down to the common room, looking forward to their first meal together in awhile but were intercepted by none other than the marauders. Marlene ignored Remus, Mary ignored Sirius, and Hestia tried to ignore all of them. Lily and Alice, however, gave all four boys a hug. James kept his arm around Lily. _

"_A bit too friendly, I see." Hestia commented dryly. She was not at all pleased that Lily hadn't murdered him yet. _

"_No more friendly than normal, Hest." Sirius commented back in the same dry voice. _

"_Then why is his arm draped around Lily? He didn't spike her drink, did he?" Mary asked, jokingly. _

"_I haven't drunk anything, Mar." Lily laughed. "I was just cold." _

_Lily looked up at James with her eyebrows raised. James grinned back hopefully. Lily shook her head and sighed, wiggling out of his grasp. _

"_Let's go down to breakfast!" Lily said after her stomach rumbled. She unknowingly grabbed James's hand. _

_So to breakfast they went, the marauders shocked but pleased with how their plan had worked out._

* * *

  
"_Why do I feel like there's always a marauder next to me?" Lily asked Peter, as they walked down the stairs to their Ancient Runes class. _

"_James and Sirius are a little worried, that's all. Do you not like my company?" Peter asked his eyes twinkling. _

"_No I do. I'm actually becoming fond of all four of you; I just can't help but suspect you four are up to something?" Lily said. _

"_Nothing is up our sleeves, marauder's honor." Peter lied, feeling guilt in the pit of his stomach._

"_Liar." Lily pointed out. "The marauder's are always up to something. Care to share?" _

"_Just a prank on old Snape. James thought you'd be mad if you knew so we figured we just wouldn't tell you." Peter said, cursing himself for not coming up with another excuse. _

"_Why?" Lily felt the old anger bubbling up. She couldn't believe James Potter sometimes. _

"_He stole something very important of James's. A watch his father left him in his will." Again, Peter swore to himself. _

_Mr. Potter was alive and well, currently on a second honeymoon with his wife. Merlin, what had Peter done? First he lied about pranking Snape and now he'd killed off James's father with his lies? Sweet Merlin, it would have been easier to tell the truth. Peter wanted to hit himself hard on the head but he knew that when he told James, James would have no problem doing it for him. _

"_Mr. Potter's d-d-dead? Oh, how awful, since when?" Lily asked feeling extremely guilty. _

"_Almost a year. His poor mother went half-mad with grief. She still thinks his alive. She talks to herself and cooks him breakfast every morning."_

"_Oh how terrible!" Lily said. Peter noticed there were tears shinning in her eyes. He absolutely hated himself at this moment. _

"_Yeah." _

"_I can see why he wants to the watch back." Lily said. "I guess one prank couldn't hurt, could it?" _

_Peter really should remember not to open his fat trap._

* * *

"_You told her what?" James demanded. _

"_He didn't say anything too horrible." Remus said in attempt to help Peter out. "Just that Snape had stolen a watch from you; a watch that had once belonged to your father. So in order to get back at Snape, we planned on pranking him. He also might have mentioned, for only the briefest of moments, that your mother was mad with grief." _

"_Bloody hell, Peter! I'm going to tell her the truth." _

_When James found Lily he was surprised when she launched herself into his arms. _

"_I'm so sorry about your father. I'm incredibly sorry for any mean thing I said to after it happened. I couldn't have helped the situation. Is there anything I can do? I know I'm a year late but I feel like a complete jerk. There has to be something I can do, right? I'll do whatever you ask, just say the word. And don't worry about the prank on Snape… I'll pretend like I never knew anything about it, alright?" _

"_I won't be pranking Snape, Lily." James said. _

"_Really? You really have matured, you know that. I'm so proud of you!" Lily sighed happily. "Let's go down to the kitchens and get something to drink to celebrate." _

_Lily grabbed James's hand and intertwined her's with his. _

_James made a decision, he wouldn't tell Lily the truth, not yet._

**Five days before**

"_Remus, who's with the girls?" Sirius demanded. _

"_Peter's waiting for them in common room. They're having 'girl talk'. Apparently, they are really intrigued with the newfound attention we are giving them and would like to throw a party. Not because of us, but because of their friendship. Something sappy like that." Remus said, his expression tired._

"_Do you think we should have told them… about what I overheard, I mean." Sirius asked._

"_What's this Sirius being serious?" When Sirius did not laugh his barking laugh, Remus knew how important this question was to him. "No. While it may be helpful for them to be aware, it would be bad for them to know everything. Don't give me that look; James and I talked about it. If Lily or Mary knew they'd think they would protect us by staying away from us and they would die." _

_It was the truth, they both knew it. Lily was a noble person and believed that she was less than others. Mary was her best friend. Would it really be that hard for Lily to convince her that they didn't need protection? Would Mary even need convincing? Would they go into hiding together, alone, or even at all? Would they face their demons head on? _

_Sirius and Remus shuddered; it wasn't something they wanted to think about. _

"_What happened between you and Mary?" Remus asked cautiously. _

"_It's complicated." Sirius sighed sounding tired. _

"_You need to tell someone. You've been moping around for weeks. We all thought it was because Mary didn't pick you over Lily. But I was talking to Lily about your detention and she said you didn't blame her for the break up, that it wasn't her fault no matter what Mary had lead her to believe. She wouldn't tell me what you said had actually happened but I know something did and I'm starting to believe it was something Mary did. I mean, naturally we all kind of assumed… well, you never seem to care about the girls you date, Sirius… But you cared about Mary. I don't understand." Remus paused, thinking of something that could possibly make his words comforting. "Do you?" _

"_No. I'll tell you but don't let it affect your relationship with Mary. You are friends, right? I've learned my lesson on friends fighting their friend's battles." Remus nodded, encouraging Sirius to go on. _

_Sirius paused and closed his eyes. Pain cut across his face. Remus realized that whatever had happened, Sirius hadn't kept it from them because he was embarrassed or for any other reason. He hadn't told them because it hurt too much. _

"_She likes to read those muggle books, Mary does. I reckon she had a huge library back at her house. I just wanted to impress her. I asked Hestia for one of her books and Hestia brought down Mary's favorite: __Pride and Prejudice__. I wasn't looking to find anything, honest. I just opened the book and out fell a piece of parchment. I thought it was just a book mark, so I pick up and examined it. I was trying to figure out where it had been, you know, so I could replace it. But instead I figured out who Mary wrote all those letters to. A muggle bloke named Sam. He wanted her to come home for their seven month. I'm pathetic." _

"_No you're not. She didn't treat you right. You didn't deserve that." Remus said, trying desperately to make him feel better. _

"_Freaking pansy, he wrote like a girl!" Sirius sighed, half-heartedly. _

"_I bet he did." Remus said knowingly._

_

* * *

_

"_Have you ever noticed Alice Prewett?" Frank Longbottom asked Peter. _

_They had developed a weird friendship during Frank's first year (Peter's second). Their friends did not know about this friendship and neither knew how deep it actually went. What they did know was that whenever they needed to vent or express themselves in anyway, all they had to do was signal the other so they could meet in their meeting place. _

_They always met at midnight (Peter gave the excuse that he wanted a snack if anyone asked) and they met in the room of requirement. _

"_Anyone with eyes has, Frank." Peter noticed Frank's expression and back-tracked. "Well, obviously you haven't. Why?" _

"_I've never seen her be anything but dainty but at detention she was… in control, in charge, she led, you know? Well you don't, obviously, you weren't there but still. I've known her my whole life and I've never really known her, you know?" _

"_You still don't know her. The detention was three hours, there's still so much you don't know." _

"_But here's the thing: I want to know it. I want to know everything about her. I want to know why she tucks her hair behind her ear, I want to know why she always smiles, I want to know why she's friends with the people she's friends with, and I want to know every thought that crosses her mind." _

_Peter stared at Frank. "Looks like someone better take notes." _

"_I just don't know why I want to know." Frank said his expression bewildered. _

"_You will."_

* * *

"_What's it like at home?" Lily asked James as they walked to Transfiguration. _

_There was a pause and Lily realized what she had said. "Oh, my god, I mean Merlin, don't answer that. That was an awful question and I never should have asked it. You're allowed to hate me for it, you know."_

"_Lils, calm down. I have no problem telling you anything." James said, guilt lining every pit in his stomach. "It's like yours but with magic. My mum just likes to believe that my dad is still there. It's not really as bad as Peter made it out to be, I swear. It was much worse when my brother died." James hated to talk about Billy but it was better than lying to Lily about his still alive father. _

"_You have a brother?" Lily asked shocked. She'd known James for almost seven years and she hadn't known his father had died or that he even had a brother- who was also gone. Poor James. _

"_Had. He was seven years old. His name was William. My mother insisted on calling him Will; my father liked Bill better. I called him little Billy. He found my father's wand. No one knows what really happened. But we found him at the bottom of our stairs." He choked on his words trying to hold back tears. _

_They stopped and Lily hugged him. James let himself cry for a minute before straightening up. He looked embarrassed. _

_Lily smiled weakly at him. "It's okay. You can always be honest with me." _

_James felt like a tosser. _

"_C'mon, we don't want to be late." She grabbed his hand, this time meaning to. She swung their hands for good measure and pulled herself closer to him. Lily wanted him to know: she had been wrong about him._

**Three days before**

"_Okay!" Hestia said, really annoyed. Currently they were blessed with the presence of both James and Remus. She had had enough of the stupid marauders. "Seventh year girls meeting. Now!" _

_Lily, Marlene, Alice, and Mary exchanged looks. "Fine." Lily shrugged. _

"_But how do we ditch the aruders-may?" Mary whispered. _

"_Heard that!" James said obnoxiously. _

"_We're going to take a walk outside by the lake." Marlene said, she couldn't wait to get away from Remus's gaze. "So we'll see you later, James." _

"_You can't!" James yelled. He looked around embarrassed. "I mean, you shouldn't." _

"_Why not?" Hestia demanded. _

"_It's past curfew." James invented wildly. "Yeah, that's why."_

"_Um… James?" Alice asked politely. "It's ten in the morning. Wanna try again?" _

"_You just can't!" Remus said angrily. _

"_Who the hell are you to tell us what we can and can't do?" Marlene asked. This wasn't about a walk around the lake, this was personal. _

"_Yeah!" Hestia added, a little lamely. _

"_Stop! Stop fighting. I can't stand it." Lily snapped. They all stared at her. "What? I've had enough of it. We'll go to our room. Is that agreeable, boys?" _

"_Good."_

_

* * *

_

"_They're always here!" Hestia said, after shutting the door with a loud thud. _

"_I know." Lily said. "I tried to ask Peter about it but all I found out about was a prank for Snape." _

"_That's because you were asking Peter and not James." Mary said. _

"_That's brilliant, Mar!" Alice squeaked. "You know I respect James a great deal, right? So you'll understand I'm only asking you this because I know something is up, something not right."_

"_Oh, I see." Marlene added with excitement. "But Lily, you may have to kiss him to get it out of him." _

"_Kiss who?" Lily questioned. _

"_Honestly, it might take more than a kiss." Hestia smirked. _

"_Hest!" Alice chided. "He's better than that!" _

"_Who is?" Lily asked quietly. _

"_She may have to use tongue, though." Mary added with a laugh. _

"_He'll probably use his tongue the first chance he gets." Hestia snorted. _

"_Who will?" _

"_C'mon, Hest, why do you hate him so much?" Marlene questioned. _

"_Hate who?" _

"_He's a prick." _

"_Who the bloody hell are you four talking about!" Lily screamed. _

"_Uh...James?" Marlene said sheepishly._

_

* * *

_

_Frank Longbottom couldn't have any classes with Alice since they were in different years. He sighed, it was almost impossible to see her. She was almost always with the marauders and when she wasn't she was in her room with at least one other of her friends so even if he could get into her room (which he couldn't), she wouldn't be alone. _

_Frank was starting to get a wee bit annoyed. _

_When he finally did catch up with her, she was sitting in the common room reading a chapter in her charms book. She looked frustrated, and Frank couldn't help but think it was cute. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun and Frank was sure that if her mother saw her, she'd pass out and die but instead of feeling like she was letting society down, Frank found that he welcomed her freedom and sense of character. _

_He had hated the dates his parents had set him up on. They were all with pureblood girls who were respectable and dainty. He was sure that if Alice had chosen any career but an Auror she would have been one of the girls that his parents set him up with. But he was sure that if they had that he would have resented her. _

_He was sick of being his parents doll. _

_He walked up to Alice and bit back his nerves. Honestly, he was being ridiculous. _

"_Hey Alice." _

_She looked up. "Frank?" _

"_Yeah." Frank said feeling very awkward. _

"_Do you need something?" Alice tried not to sound rude but she was pretty sure she came off as annoyed. Oh well._

"_I wanted to ask you something." She was making him more and more nervous. _

"_Okay. What's up?" Alice said although she was very confused. _

"_How did you do it?" When he saw Alice's confused expression he added, "I just don't understand. All of the other well bred pureblood girls are dainty. They look like they can break at any second. But you're different. There's strength in your eyes; you won't be taken advantage of. You're set on being an Auror, which in almost unheard of for pureblood women. Halfbloods and muggleborns, sure, but not purebloods. Doesn't your mother disprove? I just… don't understand. You defy everything we were brought up to be." _

"_That's because I have a mind of my own. Besides times are changing. They are going to need as many Aurors as they can get, male or female, pureblood or otherwise. A war is coming; in fact, it may already be upon us. To hell with pureblood code because I am done giving a damn about what is or is not proper." Alice said. _

_He grinned at her. "I like that about you. But you're going to fight for muggleborns? I mean, you aren't one of them so I don't understand. I get what Sirius said, honestly I do. I just don't know why you'd willingly die for a cause that doesn't really affect you." _

"_You realize that Mary and Lily, two of my best friends were born to muggle families, right?" Alice paused while Frank nodded. "I can't stand around and let them get killed. And even if they weren't my friends they don't deserve to die simply because they don't have magical parents." _

"_That makes sense." Frank nodded. _

"_Is it bad that I don't know if I want to fight?" _

_Alice looked at him and tilted her head, debating. _

"_I mean, I know I what side I'd join if I were to fight but-"_

"_And what side is that?" Alice demanded. _

"_Dumbledore's. Yours. The muggleborns." _

"_The way I see it," Alice said slowly. "You have a year and half to decide." _

**Two days before**

"_James! Wait up!" Lily yelled. _

_James slowed his pace but did not stop. He was afraid of what would happen if he did. In the last few days he had gotten so close to Lily that he couldn't help but feel sad. There were moments were it seemed like they were heading for more than friends but then there were moments were it was made as clear as day that they were to be just friends. He was getting whiplash from all of the mood changes. He had expected this; he knew it would be hard for her if her feelings ever did change. He just hadn't anticipated that it'd be hard for him, as well. _

_But then reason kicked in and he realized that if he didn't stop she'd be wondering alone in the castle with Snape on the Lily-patrol. And James's head conjured up a thousand and one things that Snape could do to Lily, a thousand and one ways that he'd find her body. A thousand and one ways that she'd be taken from him. _

_So he stopped. _

_Lily ran to catch up with him and James could hear her shoes clicking against the stone floor. _

"_Are you okay?" Lily asked when she saw his face. _

_It was getting harder to be around him. Whenever she was she had the overwhelming urge to kiss him or touch his arm or hold his hand. When she had agreed to be friends with him it had been out of guilt and pity that she had done it. Never in a million years had she expected to actually like him. She hadn't expected him to be sweet, kind, caring, and loyal. She had expected to see the bullying toe rag she had known in fifth year. She hadn't expected him to be funny or to share his secrets with her. She had expected him to be mean and spiteful. She hadn't expected to learn that whenever he looked at her, his eyes would shine over with hope. She hadn't expected to find that when something was wrong his brows would furrow together and he'd bite his lip and/or mess up his hair depending on how bad the situation was. She didn't expect to find that he had only kissed one girl and that was when he was ten. She hadn't expected any of this. _

_But she had gotten to know James._

"_Yeah." _

"_Something's on your mind." Lily said softly. _

"_Do honestly want to know the truth?" James asked her. His voice was begging Lily but for what she didn't know. _

"_Yes." Lily said because that was the best she could give him. _

"_I was thinking about how hard it is to be with you and not actually be with you." _

_Lily knew what she had been sent here to do. Her friends had made clear that she was not to come back to their dorm without the information that they wanted. And Lily really did not fancy sleeping in the common room. _

_Yet they did not consider Lily or James's feelings in their little plan. They hadn't once stopped and looked at the fact that Lily simply wasn't comfortable with this whole arraignment. They saw the potential for James and Lily as a couple and did not pause to think of how soon in the future this would occur. They were pushing James and Lily down a bumpy road full obstacles before they were sure that Lily and James where ready for it. _

_But Lily didn't think she could handle sleeping in the common room. And maybe her friends were right; she was becoming rather fond of James. It shouldn't be that hard, to press her lips to his. Actually, she was quite certain it wouldn't be hard at all. It would probably be fun. But… was she ready? _

_James watched Lily's face as she struggled with herself. Her decision did not take long and it was clear that she had made up her mind. In a manner of seconds, Lily understood what she was going to do. _

_Whether she was right or wrong, well, she had no idea. _

"_Lily, you don't have to say anything. I understand." _

_James face was dejected and Lily felt her heart skip a beat. _

"_You understand what, James?" Lily said trying to hide her amusement. "I haven't said a word." _

_But the time Lily had finished her sentence her voice had become barely a whisper and James was standing right in front of her. James's head snapped up when he sensed their proximity and his heart began to beat widely in his chest. Their eyes met. _

_It wasn't a fairy tale moment, their first kiss. It was filled with lies and confusion but it was beautiful, nonetheless. _

_Their lips met. It could have been over in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, or years but neither actually knew. They were too caught in the moment to actually care. James and Lily had just shared their first kiss._

_

* * *

_

"_There's a fight. Sirius overheard a bunch of slytherins talking. There target is all of us. The seventh year Gryffindors. They just figured sticking together would be the smartest thing to do. James reckoned that they'd try to pick us off one by one, that their goal was to take us out one by one." Lily announced to the room. _

_She quite clearly was sleeping in her own bed tonight. _

"_Oh." Marlene said. "They were trying to protect us?" _

"_Or themselves. They obviously needed our protection." Mary joked. _

"_It's actually kind of sweet." Alice said. "If only I actually fancied one of them. Then the gesture would be even sweeter. It's a shame really; they're all quite attractive." _

"_Yeah. You and Pete would make a wonderful couple, Al." Hestia said her tone turning more and more haughty with each word. _

"_Calm down, Hest. We know you don't like them but you have to admit, the gesture is nice." Lily soothed. _

"_Fine." Hestia snapped begrudgingly. _

"_So Lils," Mary teased. "How did you manage to get this out of James?"_

_Lily turned bright red._

_

* * *

_

"_You know," Remus announced to two of his three fellow marauders. "If we had some polyjuice potion, we could pose as one of the slytherins." _

"_Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Peter asked weakly. _

"_Probably, Pete." Sirius said nastily. "Which is why you wouldn't be the one taking the potion." _

_Sirius liked Peter. Or he liked the attention he received from Peter but at the moment, he was sick of his freaking whining. Whenever they did anything, nowadays, Peter would ask if it was dangerous or if anyone would get hurt and he'd ask in that damn weak voice of his. Sirius was about to snap. It. Was. Driving. Him. Insane. _

"_James wouldn't approve." Remus stated the obvious. "We can't make the potion in time which means we'd have to steal it from Slughorn." _

"_Damn! Why the bloody hell was he made headboy?" Sirius swore. _

"_Some ironic twist in fate?" Peter snorted. _

"_So what do we do?" Remus asked, trying to get both boys back on track. _

"_I'll nick the potion from Slughorn. You all know how much he likes me. I reckon he wanted both me and my brother in his house." Sirius said. After a moment his face lit up. "I'll tell him that I need to see his collection because I want to see how liquid luck is made. Of course he'll be watching to make sure I don't steal any of that. He won't notice-"_

"_When you steal the polyjuice potion." Remus finished._

"_That's brilliant, Padfoot!" Peter beamed. _

**One day before**

"_Honestly Lily," Mary teased. "You think you're dressing to impress someone." _

"_But who would our dear Lily be trying to impress." Marlene played along._

"_Hmmm…" Alice hummed along thoughtfully. "Could it be…. James?" _

"_Honestly, leave her alone." Hestia said protectively. _

"_Thanks for trying to save me, Hest, but I think all hope of my rescue from giggle land has been shot to hell." _

_Alice, Mary, and Marlene giggle as if to prove Lily's point. Hestia was fed up with the three of them. Why were they encouraging this stupid relationship, anyways? _

"_I just feel bad sometimes, you know?" Lily said. "He'd had so much death in his past." _

"_You mean Billy?" Alice asked. "It really was a shame. He was so cute. I cried at his funeral." _

"_That and his father. I mean, I never knew any of this about his." _

"_His father?" Marlene asked. _

_Although she didn't know the Potters as well as Alice's family, she was fairly certain she would know if something had happened to Mr. Potter. In fact, if it had it would be all over the news. Mr. Potter wasn't exactly the minister of magic but his position within the ministry was only a few pegs down. _

"_He died about a year ago." Lily looked at everyone's faces (everyone but Mary had year round connections to the wizard world but Mary was also good friends with James). "Didn't he?"_

"_No, sweetie." Hestia breathed. _

_Hestia was sorry to see Lily's face crumble with confusion and pain. She would never have wished her friend in pain. But she had known Potter was like this. She tried to warn everyone, but no, they wouldn't listen. She has happy that this would end the ridiculous romance between Lily and Potter. _

"_He lied to me?" Lily announced but this time she didn't sound hurt, she sounded pissed._

_

* * *

_

_"Where's Remus?" Lily demanded of Sirius. _

_"Who there, Lils, take a potion."Peter said, snickering as he said it. _

_"I don't have time for you two. So I'm going to ask you one more time. Where. Is. Remus?" _

_"__He went to the Library. He's gotten detention at seven with McGonagall. He had to finish he DADA essay." Sirius said, he quickly realized that something was wrong. _

_"Lily, is there something wron-" Sirius was cut off but a much sterner voice. _

_"Mr. Black! The polyjuice potion in Professor Slughorn's office. What happened to it?"McGonagall.  
_

_"I don't know, Professor." Sirius lied easily. _

_"Funny thing, Mr Black, Professor Slughorn said you were the last one in his office." McGonagall asked. _

_"I swear I didn't do it, Professor!" Sirius pleaded. _

_"It seems, Mr. Black, you'll be joining your friend Mr. Lupin in detention." _

_And then Lily got an idea. "Professor, I did it."_

_

* * *

_

_"Remus," Lily whispered as they scrubbed the trophies in the Trophy Room completely clean."Why did James lie to me?" _

_"He didn't lie to you, Peter did." Remus answered smoothly. _

_"He did lie to me. Remus give it up already. I know." _

_"Lily relax. You honestly don't understand. He was only trying to protect you." _

_"Protect me? From what?" _

_"He didn't tell you the truth about his father, like he was going to by the way, because he knew that if he did then he'd have to tell you the truth about the fight." Remus said, but as soon as it was out of his mouth, he regretted it. _

_"The truth about the fight?" Lily demanded. "Oh, you are telling me everything, Lupin, or else you won't bloody wake up tomorrow!" _

_"The Slytherins weren't going to hurt anyone with magical blood. But they were going to kill the muggleborns, you and Mary... We couldn't tell you." _

_"And why the bloody hell not? So I could go on endangering everyone around me? I think not." Lily shouted angrily. "I deserved to know, dammit!" _

_"James, Sirius, and I didn't want you to go a face them by yourselves. We didn't... We didn't want to lose you, Lils." _

_"Well guess what, Lupin? I may be still alive, but you three have lost me."  
_

**Earlier that day **__

"Professor I have to speak to you." Lily said. James nodded. 

_"What is it that has you two all worked up?" Dumbledore asked. _

_"We think there is going to be a fight."_

_

* * *

_

AN: Jesus that was long. It took forever to write, so please leave a review. Let me know how you feel about all the flashbacks. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, so I really would like some feedback. Also, how do you feel about Hestia's character? And the ever developing Frank's character? Please let me know!

Lots of love to all of you!

XOXOXO 


	5. Breaking Peter

AN: This is about to get interesting. Oh, the wonderful things I have in store for these characters. Ah, I think Lily is my favorite to write, with her temper. I don't think I have James and Sirius mastered as I've never been a prankster, in fact, I don't normally find people like that funny. Hestia, I feel is an original character and I'm going to have loads of fun writing her in the next few chapters. She's one of those girls, you know. The leaders or queen bees. She has dirt on everyone, well almost everyone and she's determined to know everything…. Ah, if I continue, I'll give too much away. But, I want you all to know, Hestia is a main character and what she does, is very important. So pay attention. Anyways, any comments, suggestions, or anything thing else pertaining to my characters in very much appreciated. So leave a review.

And thank you, to all of the people who've read my fic and have enjoyed it. And an even greater thanks goes out to those who review or favorite. You guys rock my world. That sounded really dumb…

Anyways, on with the story.

* * *

"Hestia, how could I be so blind?" Lily asked. Her eyes were red and her face was puffy. It was easy to tell she'd been crying half the night.

Finally Hestia had tired of ignoring Lily's tears, as the rest of her friends had done and took Lily out of the room to talk. But make no mistake: Marlene, Alice and Mary were not ignoring Lily because they didn't care about her. No, Lily had said she didn't want to talk about it and made a big fuss. She had insulted Alice when she had tried to talk to her.

Alice was usually the one that handled everyone's pain. She was the most compassionate. She was sweet and gentle. She could understand the problem and know exactly what to say to make anyone feel better. She was Alice, and she made sure they were okay.

But Lily had insulted the Prewett family name. She had demoralized and humiliated Alice in every possible way. She had made Alice cry. So not only were her friend's a little pissed at Lily, they decided that when she was good and ready to talk, she would.

"Potter's a jerk, Lils. You always knew that." Hestia soothed. "Your judgment just failed for a moment."

"But you don't understand. I like him! A lot, Hest. He's constantly on my mind. I can't get him out. But I feel like I don't really know him. I mean, half the things he told me were lies. It's not fair, Hest! I believed every lie he told me. I swallowed every false word like a gullible gold fish. I wanted to believe him. I wanted it to be true. He was… perfect. He knew what to say and when to say it. He could sense when I was upset and know exactly how to comfort me. I just, I can't find closure for a man who wasn't even real!"

Lily sighed. And Hestia felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't gone out of her way to make sure that Lily and James broke up, if you could call it that, since they weren't really together, but she wasn't at all upset about it. But here Lily was, crying her eyes out and Hestia was happy! Damn, she was happy that her best friend was unhappy. Hestia couldn't help feel disgusted with herself.

But it wasn't the worst she had done. She swallowed. If she could take it back, she would have. But it had been so easy, so tempting. And poor Mary and Sirius would never be the wiser of her devious little plan. She'd thought she'd be happy, when they'd broken up. But she hadn't been. She felt awful! And worst off, Mary was still upset over everything that had happened.

"Listen, Lils, you need to let go. So tonight, we're sneaking out."

"And where, pray tell, are we going to go? I mean, yes the castle big and all but…" Lily said. She didn't particularly want to do anything tonight. What she really wanted was to go watch a sad movie and cry her eyes out. She knew she couldn't do this, however, because there were no T.V.'s at Hogwarts and even if, by some miracle, there was a T.V., Lily wouldn't even be able to watch it because magic messes with electronics.

"We're not going to stay here tonight! We're going to Hogsmead."

When Hestia noticed Lily's stare, she rolled her eyes. She grabbed Lily's hands and pulled her up. Hestia ran upstairs for their cloaks and then they were off. Although Lily was slightly reluctant, she agreed, nonetheless, and their walk to the witch with the humped back passed in silence.

Not many people knew about this secret passage way and Hestia was very careful about who she took here. It was funny how ironic life was, really. If Sirius and Mary hadn't gotten together, Hestia wouldn't even know about this place. Yet she had been the one that had broken them up. Cruel irony, it was.

Hestia whispered the secret word and entered the tunnel. They traveled by wand light; it had always make Lily nervous the light that wands produced. It cast shadows and made everything glow eerily. If it hadn't been for Hestia clutching her hand, Lily was certain that she would have turned back, ran all the way to her dormitory, and gone straight to bed.

Hestia knew that however much Lily didn't want to this she needed to.

* * *

"James Potter! You can have any girl in the school! You could shag any girl in the school! So why are you sitting her moping over some cheap redhead?" Sirius asked.

Although Sirius and Lily had become good friends, Sirius realized that James needed to hear this. He hadn't been quite sure what happened between James and Lily but he was pretty sure they were almost together. Could it have been Peter's lies that ended that budding relationship? Sirius wasn't sure but seeing as how both James and Lily were upset over it, he couldn't believe it was one their doing.

But then again, Lily wasn't talking to any of the marauders.

"But I don't want just anyone! I love Lily, Sirius. I don't know what it will take to make you understand that but I do. There's no shag that can change that; there's no bloody girl that will make this all better." James said.

"Prongs, mate. I'm sorry Lily was such a bitch to you." Peter squeaked.

"This is all your fault!" James whipped around facing Peter. "I ought to kill you! I reckon it's your fault that this whole thing happened. You had to tell her my father was dead and my mum was half-crazy. Honestly you're a coward. You couldn't even tell Lily the truth, could you? Merlin knows why you are in Gryffindor."

"James," Remus spoke softly trying to console him. "Peter never meant to hurt anyone. He was following our orders not to talk about the fight."

"No, I reckon James is right." Sirius growled. "If Peter would learn how to use his head of his and shut his fat arse up, we wouldn't be here."

"I- I- I'm sorry." Peter pleaded. "Please, I'm sorry."

In act that they found despicable later, both James and Sirius raised their wands. Peter was at once flipped upside down and hanging in midair. His robes fell down to reveal his underwear.

Remus, with a flick of his wand, brought Peter back to the ground in a heap. He looked at Peter who now had resorted to cowering in a corner. Peter was their friend and he didn't deserve to be treated this way. Yes, he'd messed up James and Lily's relationship but there was no reason that James couldn't make it up to her. And it's not like he'd tried, either. And Peter didn't mean to do anything.

Now James and Sirius had treated Peter as nothing but scum. That little trick they pulled on Peter was something they saved for the most disgusting of people. In fact, they only people they'd ever used it on were Slytherins. The Slytherins that planned on becoming death eaters like Snape and Malfoy.

They had crossed a line.

* * *

"I really like this." Lily slurred. "I would like another, please!"

The bartender looked at a much more sober Hestia wearily. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to shoo Hestia and Lily out of the Three Broomsticks and into the night. But seeing as they were the only customers, she reasoned she probably shouldn't.

"Lily you're drunk." Hestia laughed.

Hestia hadn't intended for Lily to drink. In fact, she'd thought that Lily would have refused point blank on any kind of alcohol at all. But, for whatever reason, it had been Lily's idea to go into the bar in the first place. And instead of ordering butterbeer, as Hestia had expected, Lily order firewhisky without any hesitation.

"You know what? That James Potter is a jerk. We shouldn't have him at our school. I mean, he acts all sweet and gets him to fall in love with us and breaks our hearts. The worst part is, he doesn't understand what he'd doing to you and doesn't give a damn. Hestia, he doesn't care! Do you know how much that hurts?" Lily said in an almost incoherent manner.

"Okay," Hestia exclaimed. "Time to go."

Hearing her friend talk like this, knowing what she's going through made Hestia completely numb. It wasn't like she was feeling her friend's pain. It was more like the realization that Lily hadn't deserved this. James had always been a prick to her and so she'd always treated him like her was a jerk. Maybe James had reason to hate her but to break her like this? Not even a little bit. She put it beyond Potter. And now Hestia was going to make him pay.

* * *

"If it isn't Mr. Pettigrew, the almost squib?" Malfoy sneered. "What brings you down to this corridor?"

"I'd like to help." Peter said.

"Help? With what?"Regulus questioned appearing behind Malfoy.

"Your attack. They think you won't cross Dumbledore, that you won't attack Lily and Mary anymore." Peter rushed on. "But if you had some inside help, I could make sure you can."

"You, a marauder, cross your friends?" Regulus laughed but Malfoy looked curious.

"You figured them out, didn't you?" His voice softened. "Black and Potter will never be anything more than jerks. When we get outside of these castles, they'll be nothing. But we can offer you a position. One that no one, expect us and the Dark Lord, will ever know about."

"You c-c- could?" Peter trembled.

"You'd be very valuable." Malfoy said pleasantly.

"Okay." Peter said. He thanked them both repeatedly and left feeling much better about himself.

But he didn't know what he was getting himself into.

"You offered him a position?" Regulus mumbled stunned.

"We were going to offer him a position anyways." Malfoy pointed out. "Besides, his help might be needed."

"But what if it's a trick?" To Regulus it seemed to be the most obvious answer.

"It's not, Reggie." When Malfoy noticed the look of disbelief on Regulus Black's face he quickly explained. "Peter Pettigrew. Who is he? He's the boy with not even a scrap of talent. He follows James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin around like a puppy. He does whatever they ask, whenever they ask. My guess is he did something to displease Potter or Black and they demonstrated their prowess over him once again. But my bet is they made him feel like scum while doing it. You see, Peter always needs someone to protect him but if he can't trust his friends to always be gentle with him thus he turns to a new leader. One that'll make him great and powerful."

"Merlin, he does realize The Dark Lord is a wizard not a miracle worker, right?"

* * *

"What do you think of Frank Longbottom?" Alice whispered to Mary.

They were currently in DADA class. Their professor of the year, Professor Kraft, was droning on about silent spells. It was something they had learned last year and more than half the class were currently having their own private conversations over his dull voice. He wasn't a very good teacher and was rather old and deaf but the students suspected that he was the only person that Dumbledore could find to fill the job under the circumstances.

Which made this conversation very easily unnoticed.

"He's a prejudice git." Mary bellowed.

Mary had always hated Frank Longbottom. He was the worst of all kinds. He wasn't a Death Eater but he was against the mix breeding of muggleborns and purebloods. It disgusted Mary. She was just as talented as anyone else was expected to be. It wasn't her fault she was born to a muggle family and if she were born to a wizard family her achievements would be looked upon much more happily then they were now.

Mary sighed; she knew were Alice was going with this. Alice had always had a thing for Frank Longbottom. Apparently he had a nice, long bottom. The pun was definitely intended, decided Mary. He did have nice… features. But still, it didn't condone for his awful behavior. He was many things she did not approve of and she wouldn't stand by to watch him break her poor Alice's heart.

"He's just trying to get in your pants. Last week he barely looked at you. Nothing changes that much in a week. Nothing."

"Well," Alice began timidly. "I don't think that's true. I mean, Lily and James had a week long thing and before that she hated his guts. Granted she hates his guts again but not for the same reasons. I have reason to believe that James Potter broke our Lily's heart. If that isn't a major change in a week I don't know what is. And besides, I think Frank always had this in him, he just wasn't able to say it. Honestly, I think all students entering Hogwarts have the right to change what has drilled into them from their parents. My parents believe the same load of dung that his parents do and I was raised just the same as he. The fact that we were both sorted into Gryffindor proves something. We have the hearts and minds to change. We think for ourselves and do not let what has been taught stay with us. Don't you understand, Mar? He's the same as me."

"I think you're getting your hopes up, Al." Mary sounded bored. "But I could be wrong."

Something in Mary's voice offended Alice. It was something of boredom and sarcasticness that suggested that she didn't really care. And that broke soft Alice's heart.

* * *

Hestia was walking through the hallways when she bumped into a rather hard figure.

"Black." Hestia acknowledged dryly.

"Wonderful to see you." Sirius remarked sarcastically.

"I'll just be going then." Hestia said and scurried away.

Sirius noticed a fallen piece of parchment; he examined it and checked the name. It was Hestia's. He was about to call for her and give it back to her when he realized her recognized the handwriting.

He had always thought it had been rather girly handwriting.

* * *

AN: What did you think? Sorry its shorter but I've been busy. I love you all! =) Sorry about any typos, I didn't have much time to edit.


	6. Girl's Night

AN: Okay, I'm going to start by clarifying a few things. Hestia isn't happy that Lily's unhappy, she's happy that Lily and James aren't together (the reasons for why she hates the marauders so much will be revealed later in the story). I'd also like to say that I don't hate Hestia's character. It may seem like it but she's not a bad character, I promise. On another note, I kinda hate what James and Sirius did last chapter... I apologize for bringing jackass James and Sirius back but... it kind of had to be done.

Thank you all for the review! =) I enjoy reading them.

* * *

Peter stared at the wall in the common room. He was proud of himself; he finally learned how to stand up for himself. He smiled to himself, content.

The painting swung open and in walked none other than Lily Evans and Mary McDonald. They were talking but the conversation looked strained. They both had strained smiles. They both were miserable. But they were alive and in twenty-four hours, they wouldn't be.

Suddenly, Peter didn't feel so happy.

* * *

Sirius stared at the handwriting. He was staring at Hestia Jones's notebook like it was the devil. He had been so wrong. Mary had never been a good liar.

The look of confusion on Mary's face when he accused her of cheating hadn't been fake. When Mary refused to get out of bed the next morning, it hadn't been because she couldn't face him- well, maybe it had but not for the reasons that Sirius had assumed.

He'd been so wrong. He'd broken up with Mary and made a mess of everything. And it was all Hestia's fault.

* * *

"You're sure this will work?" Bellatrix paced around the room.

"You need to trust me, Bells." Malfoy used the nickname that Bellatrix hated just to get a rise out of her.

"It seems I have to seeing as you'll be my brother soon." Bellatrix admitted uneasily.

"Trust me, we've got a weapon that'll Potter and his friends will never see coming."

"And that would be?" Bellatrix hated his secrecy. She found it annoying and unnecessary.

"Why you have to trust me."

Bellatrix sighed. She knew she should trust Malfoy with the ease that he sister does but she couldn't. There was only one person she trusted; the only person who was there for her after… Everything. The Dark Lord was her hero and would be for the rest of her life. If Malfoy turned out to be wrong, than she might lose His confidence and Bellatrix was sure she wouldn't be able to handle that.

"Tonight then?"

"Tonight."

* * *

"Mary!" Sirius called.

"Black, I'm not in the mood."

Mary had gone through way too much. She could be the cause of how many deaths? How many people would die to protect her before she died herself? This war shouldn't be about her. Her life wasn't important; not any more important than anyone's standing next to each other. Yet people where going to kill each other over her rights?

It didn't make much sense.

She also was done pretending she understood what happened between her and Sirius. Whatever he wanted to do to her today, she couldn't take it. She hated the fact that he still got to her, that she still cared. Lily had told her that he wasn't worth her time but… in her heart she still believed that Sirius would always be worth her time. She loved him. She always had.

"Mary, please talk to me." Sirius begged.

"You were the one that stopped talking to me in the first place." Mary knew that she was allowing him to see way too many emotions but she couldn't help it.

If he knew how broken she was, then so be it. It was time she started telling the truth about everything. And here was the cold hard truth: she wasn't worth it. She never would be.

Mary turned on her heel. She was leaving. It only hurt her to be this near to Sirius and not know what could have been.

"I know you didn't cheat on me. I'm sorry, Mar. I'm so, so sorry."

Mary turned around, looking Sirius in the eyes. She was about to do the hardest thing she'd ever done.

"Too little, too late." Then Mary was gone.

And Sirius had let her go, again.

* * *

Hestia had discovered Remus's secret, just like she said she would.

_Hestia stood outside the marauders' dorm room, looking for anything she could on Remus. He had hurt Marlene. And no one, under any circumstance, hurts Hestia's friends. _

_Black had been taken care of before he could do any damage. Lily hated James (well she would, given time). Peter was just plain gross… Now, she just needed to break Remus and the only way to do that was find all about Remus's "little furry problem."_

_And Hestia was pretty positive that Remus didn't own a badly behaved rabbit. _

_"Is tonight the night?" Peter asked meekly. _

_"Is it a full moon?" Sirius snorted. "Use your head, Pete." _

_"Guys, I'm right here." Remus snapped. _

_"Be a little sensitive, guys." James commanded. _

_"I'm not the one who calls it 'his little furry problem.'" Sirius growled back as he always did when he got mad. _

_"Well I'm all glad that you feel like discussing my lycanthropy but I'd like to sleep before I'm up all night so if you all wouldn't mind shutting up, I'd appreciate it." Remus remarked sarcastically. _

_And then Hestia knew._

It disgusted her. Why where people like him at Hogwarts. He didn't deserve to be here. Someone could get hurt and it'd be his entire fault.

Remus Lupin had to go.

* * *

"Sirius! Do you realize what we've done?" James asked.

"We got mad, Pete understands." Sirius said calmly.

"No, he doesn't. I wouldn't. We repudiated our friendship with him. We turned our back on him. Sirius, we basically said he was as bad as Snape."

"He deserved it!" Sirius shot back.

"No, he didn't."

* * *

Marlene opened up the album. She smiled when she saw all the memories it held. She laughed at the picture were Hestia was wearing Lily's muggle clothing (she had bright red pants and a purple blouse coupled with a cowboy hat and a boa).

Picture Hestia was jumping up and down a pretending to play an "air hutar" (she meant guitar). Marlene had to admit, she had the head banging thing down. The other four girls, including Marlene, were in the background laughing hysterically.

Being half muggle, she felt she got the best of both worlds. She knew the things that muggles knew and she also knew the things wizards knew.

Marlene had started this last year. She didn't know what compelled her expect for the overwhelming feeling that in less than two years she might not have the amazing friends that she had lived with for seven years. And out of that came this scrap book. It was filled with inside jokes and pictures of the five girls doing everything and anything.

They only had seven more months of school and then they were gone. Marlene couldn't help but wonder: would they still be friends after school. Who would end up dead? Who would turn on them? You would disappear, never to be seen again?

It was scary. And Marlene was positive that she never wanted to leave the school. It really wasn't fair to have to leave the place that had become your home for seven years.

She sighed, it was going to be hard, letting go.

Later that evening, when all four girls had joined Marlene in their dorm, they all sat down a looked at it. There were lots of giggles and "I can't believe we did that!" or "Oh Merlin, that was fun." The girls laughed for hours.

It made Marlene happy, to see everyone so happy. Usually, they were all so focused on their problems that they didn't have time to just laugh like this. But tonight, she didn't want to focus on the marauders (who none of the girls were talking to), she wanted it to be just a girls night.

Too bad Marlene didn't get her wish.

"So, I found something out today, girls." Hestia announced.

Lily and Alice exchanged a look. It wasn't good when Hestia got into one of her "gossiping moods." It usually ended up with someone getting hurt. Hestia would keep their secrets, because they were friends, but to everyone else she didn't think that rule applied.

"Oh, do tell!" Mary giggled.

She was still trying to forget about today's drama with Sirius. He had all but said that he wanted her back. He knew she hadn't cheated on him. But then who wrote the note?

She pushed that thought away. She wasn't going back to Sirius so it really didn't matter who wrote the note. It wasn't important. Besides, she needed to stop thinking about Sirius all together.

"I've finally discovered his secret." Hestia said proudly.

Lily and Alice exchanged looks again, this time with fear in their eyes. They may not be speaking to Remus at that moment, but they still felt loyal to him. Remus was their friend, he didn't deserve to have his secret revealed in the way that Hestia would reveal it. He would be humiliated and treated like scum.

They had to stop this.

"Oh, you met his rabbit, Fluffy then?" Lily asked quickly.

"Fluffy?" Hestia asked.

"Yeah!" Alice encouraged. She wasn't sure were Lily was going with this but she didn't have a plan, so she hoped Lily's would work.

"Fluffy is horrific. I don't know if you can call it a rabbit, really. It's half rabbit, half werewolf. How that happened, I'll never understand but Fluffy is definitely one of a kind." Lily smiled.

Alice continued where Lily paused. "Anyways the four boys sneak out once every month- they like to do it on full moon, apparently it makes it more exciting- to go see him. They call it Remus's werewolf abilities or his 'little furry problem' or his lycanthropy. They all find it rather amusing."

"You're serious?" Mary asked in disbelief.

Marlene shook her head. That couldn't be true. It wasn't possible. Whatever Lily and Alice were trying to pull, it was failing, miserably.

"No, I'm not." Lily quirked. "I don't think I really wish to be, either. Imagine, putting up with Potter all the time. I shudder at the thought."

The other girls laughed.

"No, but really?" Hestia barked, bringing the subject back to Remus. "This can't be true."

"Yes, we are." Alice said. She was trying really hard to look innocent. (She was failing).

"Anyways, anything interesting happen today, girls?" Lily asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject before anyone could find a hole in her really stupid story.

"Speaking of Sirius, he talked to me today." Mary spoke quietly.

"You have to learn how to ignore him, Mar." Marlene said. "He's just trying to get a rise out of you."

"Honestly, the way Sirius Black treats her, it's absurd. Something has to be done." Lily slammed her hand on the desk.

"Guys, will you listen?" Alice stopped all further rants about Sirius. "It looks like Mary has more to say."

There was a chorus of "sorry" and then Mary was off again to tell her story. She wasn't sure if she should tell her friends, though. It wasn't that she didn't trust them it was just that she wasn't sure they'd understand. It's not like she could tell them, "I can't take Sirius back because it might one day get him killed. In fact, I shouldn't be friends with you lot, either." Mary had the slight inclination that that would go over too well with her friends.

But she was itching to tell someone, anyone. And they were dying to know. It couldn't hurt, really, to tell them. If they insist that she should get back together with Sirius all she really has to say is she doesn't like him anymore or that she couldn't possibly handle being with him after her broke her heart the way he did.

Mary took a deep breath and then told them all she knew.

"Did he say how he knew that you didn't cheat?" Hestia was the first to speak after Mary had finished her story.

"No?" Mary half answered, half asked.

"Oh, okay." Hestia said dropping the subject.

"So are you going to get back together with him?" Marlene asked. She wore a grin from ear to ear.

"I already said no." Mary frowned.

"Yeah, but its _Sirius_." Lily said like that explained everything. When she saw everyone's look of confusion she groaned and then continued. "He's best friends with Potter. Honestly, you think he's just going to give up? You're mad."

"Yeah, are you doing the whole play with him before you take him back thing?" Marlene asked.

"No." Mary said flatly. "I'm not taking him back. Ever."

"But-" Alice began before she was cut off by Hestia.

"Honestly, leave the girl alone. She doesn't want to be with Sirius. That's fine." Hestia said. "Don't you worry, girlie, I'll take care of Sirius."

After all, Hestia already had.

* * *

"Let's play a prank!" James said excitedly to Peter.

"Whatever." Peter said nonchalantly.

"Pete, are you still mad?" James face looked hopeful.

"Nope."

It was the truth. Peter really wasn't mad at James or Sirius anymore. How could he be, after what he did? He had sold his friends out to the worst person he could and he did it without hestitation.

If he was really honest, he was a little pissed at himself.

"C'mon, Peter, please don't hate me." James's eyes begged for forgiveness.

Peter only hated himself.

* * *

"Let's talk about how you're going to get Lily back."

"Let's talk about how you're going to get Mary back." James countered

"Okay. We can do both. Maybe feed off each other's ideas. It'll fun and hopefully helpful."

"Sirius, I'm done. She hates me. It's over." James said dejectedly.

"Prongs, you can't seriously be giving up. I know you're not."

"Why's that?" James sighed.

"Because you spent seven years drooling over that girl. You fought tooth and nail for her and now that you're close to getting her you just give up? You said that you knew she loved you. You seemed so sure. You can't give up now, mate. You'll never be happy if you do."

"But-"

"I'll never respect you again if you give up now. She's mad but she'll get over it."

* * *

AN: Sorry if this chapter is bad. I dunno if it is or not… Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and I really hope you'll be kind enough to leave a review. I love you all! 3


	7. Fifth Year Secrets

AN: So there may be a little confusion in this chapter. We are going back in the past! Yay. It seems that some secrets need to be revealed about all of our favorite girls—and boys. You'll get background information on the following: Sirius Black, Regulus Black, James Potter, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, Hestia Jones (pay special attention to this one, folks!), Marlene McKinnon, Mary McDonald, Frank Longbottom, and Alice Prewett. Also, some things you should know: Hestia is not a bad person, she's sometimes rash and let's her emotions cloud her decisions but she's not, under any circumstances an awful person. Her actions, however awful they may be, are not worse than anything your favorite marauders may be. And they are certainly better than Peter's. =)

I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Two Years Before

"Hey, girlies." Hestia cried upon seeing her four best friends in the entire world.

They were sitting in a compartment together, happily enjoying each other's company on their way to the best school there ever was.

"Bonjour, mon ami!" Alice said happily.

"Ah, so gut, Sie zu sehen. Es ist zu lang, mein Freund gewesen. Viel zu lange. Kommen Sie, erzählen Sie uns wirklich über Ihren Sommer." Marlene laughed.

"Huh?" All four girls asked.

Marlene had spent the summer in Germany. She smiled and told them how beautiful Germany was and how awesome her summer had been. Her four best friends responded excitedly and continued to keep light conversation. Marlene knew then, that she had been right to lie.

"Sorry, no fun language for me." Lily sighed. "I spent my summer with Petunia and Mary."

"Well now you know what I did this summer." Mary grinned.

But inside, Lily and Mary weren't smiling. Sure they'd giggle and laugh with the rest of their friends, but it looked like Mary and Lily were no more.

"How about you, Hestia?" Marlene asked.

"It was great. I really enjoy pools!" Hestia smiled pleasantly.

She refrained from saying anything about her run in with the marauders or how her summer hadn't been great. Not even a little bit. She didn't even like pools!

* * *

The four marauders stepped onto the train. They were together, as always. Even if their relationships were strained. They were a unit. They always would be, even if this summer had completely sucked.

"Let's find a compartment." James suggested.

"Sure." Peter agreed.

They passed the compartment where the girls were seated.

"There's Hestia." Remus pointed out. "Maybe we should go ta-"

"No." James and Sirius said sternly.

"They're right." Peter said in an uncharacteristically sage moment.

"What!" Remus asked.

Remus had hoped that Peter would be on his side. Though, he thought bitterly, why would Peter ever stop blindly adoring James and Sirius? It bugged him sometimes, the power James and Sirius had over him. He felt they took Peter for granted.

Though at this particular moment, he only found Peter annoying.

"We can NOT talk to her. It'll only piss her off more. What we did was awful, even if we did it unknowingly." Peter announced challenging anyone to disagree.

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look at the word "unknowingly." There were some secrets that were meant to be hidden. What the marauders had done, and what reasons some- or one of them- had for doing them, were the secrets that needed to be kept.

* * *

Frank Longbottom sat alone. He had been long since scorned by his Gryffindor classmates for the feelings he had toward muggles. The Slytherins scorned him because he was a Gryffindor (for reasons he didn't understand one bit). And the other students tended to avoid him.

He wasn't quite sure why the other students avoided him. It wasn't that he was an unlikeable person, really. He had been taught that muggles were bad from birth, and so that is what he thought. He had a fondness for Quidditch, just like every other fourteen year old wizard boy. He was good in school and behaved. He was polite and civil to everyone he met. He was exactly like his parents raised him to be.

Too bad he had failed to notice that everyone else despised their parents and what they were expected to be by said parents. It wasn't his fault by any means. He thought he was doing what he was supposed to do. He never, not for a single moment, ever questioned whether his parents were wrong about anything at all. He was a good boy, that's what he was expected to be, so therefore, that's what he'd be.

School hadn't been what he thought it would be. People like James Potter and Alice Prewett did not stick to what his parents had taught them. Well, the Potter's were muggle lovers but in all other respects they were respectable people.

Instead of focusing on their studies all the time, they did things like sneak down to the kitchen and laugh much too loud and share secrets. They did scandalous things that could be used against them. James had gone as far as to create his own little group that was hell-bent on making the most trouble they possibly could without any real cause or reason.

Both Potter and Prewett befriended muggles and treated them like equals. Potter even went as far as to publically ask Evans to go out with him repeatedly. It was ridiculous and completely against everything that his parents had taught him.

Frank couldn't possibly understand why everyone thought so poorly of him but what he couldn't understand more was the fact that people like Potter and Prewett, who had everything he didn't, couldn't manage to follow the rules at all and still manage to have friends; it made Frank very bitter.

* * *

"One day, we might even serve the Dark Lord." Regulus said excitedly.

"That we might." Severus said with less enthusiasm (though Regulus would never notice).

Severus wasn't sure that he wanted anything to do with this so called "Dark Lord." In fact, he found the man way too brutal and bloody for his taste. You see, Severus couldn't deny that the dark arts fascinated him but that didn't mean that he wanted to go and kill anyone. And really, he didn't have anything against _all_ muggles.

"You know we could…" Severus zoned out.

Some of them were quite nice and beautiful. Some of them had red hair and green eyes; these such muggle borns were also very smart and witty. They also tended to be Severus Snape's best friend.

"Right?" Regulus asked.

Severus hadn't heard a word yet he still agreed with Regulus.

"I'm so glad I'll have you with me, Sev. We'll be together, on the same side! It'll be great, I promise!" Regulus exclaimed.

Severus had no idea what he'd just gotten himself into.

* * *

Everyone knew the world was changing. It was rather obvious. There was a new "Dark Lord" arising. He was taking over and causing disturbances everywhere. A new age was fast approaching, and no one liked it.

Seers predicted dark times, whether they be fakes or not. Young couples rushed to get married, fearing that they'd never have the chance if they didn't. Some people went into hiding; they changed their physical appearances as well as their names and moved to a different country.

The faces changed and so did the ages and genders but one thing that all of these people had in common: they were afraid.

A new era was coming, one that few would survive to tell the tale. On that would cause many people to decide: join or die. It placed everyone on a different side and everyone at odds with each other. Secrets were kept from the best of friends and many feared betrayal. It was the worst times anyone could have imagined.

Even at Hogwarts, people knew changes were afoot though many people tried to hide it.

* * *

James Potter reached into his pockets, knowing he'd find the letter. It was slightly pathetic, the fact that he'd kept it. But he couldn't throw it away. It had her loopy handwriting and he could almost picture her writing it. Even if the words weren't exactly pleasant it was still a letter from Lily so therefore he'd treasure it.

_Potter,_

_I would start by saying 'thank you' for your letter but since I didn't want anything from you, much less your letter and all of the questions (well only one, asked many times), I think I'll skip that part. I'd greatly appreciate you never writing to me again. In fact, I'd be much happier if you didn't._

_I have no idea why but you seem to be under the impression that I have strong feelings of attraction towards you. I'd like to take the time and make it perfectly clear that I will never, in a million years, go out with you. In fact, I'm pretty sure I hate you. _

_I will continue to hate you for the rest of my life. Therefore, I'd really appreciate you never writing to me again (or talking to me, I'd be really, really grateful if you never did that again, also). _

_I hope not to see you next year,  
Sincerely not yours,  
Lily Evans_

The words written in the letter should have disheartened him (it had, just a little bit, though he'd never admit it) but it certainly did not drive him away. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to see Lily after he'd read her letter. It was just the fact that he liked to see her mad (she looked so cute) but it was also because he couldn't deny the feelings he had for her.

He may only be fifteen but he knew. She was the one. He couldn't quite pinpoint the reason why he felt the way he did for her but he did. It was the grace in which she moved, the passion in which she spoke, the loyalty which she portrayed, the strength she displayed, the wit that sprang its way out of her mouth (which was a very attractive part of her, if you were to ask James or any other male at Hogwarts), the intelligence that made her top of the class, and the determination she always had. The fact that she was hell-bent on rejecting him also was a contributing factor.

There were many reasons why he loved her but he didn't know how to express said feelings in a healthy way. Which may be why she hates him.

It broke his heart sometimes but he knew he couldn't give up because one day she was going to be with him and he'd be happy. And that and that alone, would make this whole game of chase and pain worth it.

* * *

Alice knew something was up with her friends. They were hiding something from her. She didn't have any proof that they were but she knew they were all the same. It was impossible to pull anything over Alice, considering she was the most perceptive of them all. Also, she knew her friends inside and out.

Mary and Lily were definitely hiding something. Also, the fact they weren't talking to each other was a dead giveaway that something was up. They were trying to hide it and they may have succeeded in convincing Hestia and Marlene but they certainly did not have Alice sold.

Marlene grimaced every time summer was mentioned and refused point blank to speak any more German for anyone. Which would be fine if she didn't look like she was about to cry every time anyone broached the subject. Though Alice did give Marlene her props, she did _try _and hide it well enough but she was pretty sure that everyone, including James Potter (who she liked, no doubt, but it was common knowledge that James didn't care about anyone but himself, the marauders, Quidditch, and Lily), knew something was wrong with her.

And then there was Hestia. Sweet Hestia had turned bitter and cynical. Her naïve face was no longer naïve and her pretty smile had vanished from her lips and in its place stood something so tremendously vindictive that it scared poor Alice half to death. There was a certain innocence that Hestia had contained when they parted on the platform 9¾ at the end of their fourth year that wasn't present as she walked onto the train as a fifth year student. Something awful had happened to Hestia.

Of all of her friends that needed her help, for Alice was sure they did, it was Hestia that Alice knew needed her the most.

Alice was the kind of person that worried, nonstop. And these changes in her friends were not helpful to her nerves. She feared the worse and would not be satisfied until she saw all four of her best friends happy once again.

* * *

Marlene reflected on her summer, by herself this time. It hadn't been pleasant. Not even a little bit.

What had started off as a family vacation turned out to be a life changing summer but not for the better. Marlene; her two sisters, Charlotte and Kathleen; her mother, Joy; and her father, Tom had all gone to Germany to visit her cousins. It was supposed to be an amazing trip- complete with fun and no worries.

It had failed its intended goals.

From the moment they left things looked downward. They decided to go magically. It made a lot of sense to travel this way. It was less expensive and easy. Not to mention quick. So that's how they traveled.

The cousins who were also wizards came to Marlene's family, well, those who were able to apparate. It was kind of fun, actually. Pick your favorite cousin and hold on tight. Well, okay, it wasn't winning any awards because apparating actually sucked but it was almost like a quick family bonding moment.

There was only on tiny little problem.

Marlene's father hated magic. He had known about her magical abilities for quite some time now, in fact, he'd known about it before he'd married Joy. Marlene, upon reflecting on it realized that her father thought it something you could squeeze out of a person or something you could easily rid on person of. Or maybe not even easily but something that, with time, could be fixed. She was like an alcoholic to him, beautiful but sick.

Too bad he had failed.

It had taken fifty minutes to get Mr. McKinnon to accept his in-law's offered arm. After they had _finally_ arrived in the cottage on the Beaumont's estate there was yet another argument. Tom was very angry with his wife for not telling him that they'd be traveling magically.

The argument lasted for thirty minutes. Mrs. McKinnon was sporting a new bruise by the end of it, though at the time, no one but Tom and Joy knew about this precious little secret. Their marriage was taking a turn for the worst, everyone could see that but no one had the guts to actually question them about it for fear of upsetting anyone.

This was when Marlene discovered that her parents fought like this constantly. Her sister, Kathleen (currently ten but very soon to be eleven), was the one that informed Marlene and Charlotte (currently thirteen as of four months ago) that this was not new. It was, apparently, old news, and although it bothered Kathleen it was accepted as a part of everyday life and therefore was treated as nothing out of the ordinary.

After the very eventful first day, things seemed to calm down a bit. The first bruise was discovered but it was written off, she had woke in the middle of the night and, under the haze of sleep, had accidently run into a table. It was a common enough mistake and was accepted as the truth. The fights continued and were hard to ignore but the two sisters, who had been blissfully unaware of this altercation between their parents, learnt to ignore it (for what else could they do?).

Three weeks into their stay, Marlene met a boy. He was muggle and his name was Brandon. He wasn't just any boy; he was a special boy and Marlene was quite certain that she liked him. He had light brown hair and stunningly blue eyes. He was charming _and_ persistent. It also didn't do him any harm that he was bloody gorgeous.

They went on date and had a good time. They began to see each other more and more. Soon he was introduced to her family and all were thrilled by his wonderful qualities. He became a favorite and it was no secret that he was well liked. Marlene would have been introduced to his parents if they hadn't tragically passed on a year ago in a car crash.

This wonderfully happy stage lasted for almost three weeks until Marlene met some unlikely people. The first was his mother. Let it be restated: His very much alive mother. The second was a brother, whom he had said he had none of. The third, fourth, and fifth were his three other girlfriends: Annie, Ada, and Eva.

Not only had her first serious relationship ended badly but the guy in question had turned out be a total cow. He was not only a pathological liar but he was also a cheater. He was also narcistic and condescending. Needless to say, she was very disappointed with the outcome of this relationship.

The family quickly changed their point of view on Bandon and dropped him from all conversation. Marlene found that she had tried and failed her first, and hopefully last, summer romance. She now had a month of the family vacation left and she wasn't really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately for Marlene, her summer was about to get much worse.

The second and third bruises on Joy McKinnon were discovered. Joy wrote them off with a wave of her hand and a laugh and although the family nodded their head and smiled they were suspicious. They watched Joy and Tom closely and always intervened when an argument started. But, alas, they couldn't be with them at all times.

When Joy came into breakfast one morning (they always breakfast together in the family manner) with a black eye, the family knew that something had to be done. The local authorities were called- the muggles, because Tom was a muggle.

Marlene watched as her father was carried away by foreign police officers with mixed feelings. The man she had loved and pinned for the affection of. The man she had learned to secretly hate for never accepting her was being taken away. The bastard was gone.

It was over. It was finally over. But instead of feeling happy, Marlene felt drained.

* * *

When the summer had begun Lily was ecstatic. She was going to be spending it with her two best friends. Severus Snape and Mary McDonald. What could be better than that?

What Lily forgot in her happiness was that Severus and Mary hated each other.

She couldn't believe she had forgotten it. Well, technically she hadn't really forgotten it; she had merely hoped that they would get along for her sake. She was hopelessly wrong though. They had no intentions of getting along.

They spent the entire summer fighting. They fought over who got to spend more time with Lily because they refused point blank to spend any unnecessary time together. Lily spent most of her time running in between Severus and Mary. And, to make matters worse, Petunia was just as pleasant as ever.

Finally Lily had cracked and had physically made Severus and Mary sit in the same room. She wanted to watch a movie- with the both of them. So they did. It was fairly pleasant. Severus and Mary kept all of their unpleasant comments under their breath and Lily sat in between them so that no physical violence could occur.

But half way through the movie Lily had went to the bathroom.

Apparently, Severus and Mary couldn't behave themselves without Lily present. Lily hadn't been gone more than seven minutes (she was also getting some more popcorn). And downstairs, while Lily innocently made two bags of popcorn, all hell broke loose.

Lily still didn't know what had happened down in that basement while she had been gone but when she came down Mary was crying and Severus and a scratch running down his arm. It was bleeding.

Lily's face was shocked and for a moment she just stared at them. How could two people she cared about so deeply hate each other so much? Her mouth still hanging open Lily watched as Severus stormed out of her house. She stared to say something to Mary but before Lily could get out more than half a word Mary stormed up the stairs and into her guest room, slamming the door shut.

Mary and Lily had continued this silence for another day until both of them could no longer take it. They spoke to each other once more but in a different manner entirely from the way they'd spoke to each other two days before. The conversation was light and fluffy and avoided all topics of Severus, the basement, and any disagreement between muggleborns and purebloods. In fact, though the subject wasn't exactly avoided, there was very little talk of magic.

This went on for another three days. Their conversations got more and more pointless and more and more tedious. They started avoiding each other, not out of anger or any disagreement but because they simply did not want to discuss Jamie Fletcher's wardrobe any more than they already had.

Severus and Lily hadn't spoken since that day. When she had called him (even though she knew he hated the phone) he answered, discovered it was her, squeaked a timid apology, and promptly hung up the phone. Severus had never once done anything like this to Lily. It was common knowledge, strictly between the two of them, that no matter how much Severus protested the phone if she called he would thoroughly enjoy the conversation and might even, under certain circumstances prolong it and make the conversation go on longer than necessary.

Although Lily understood the implications of Severus's manner and knew that they could never be more than friends, she didn't discourage these situations and sometimes found herself encouraging them. There was no conversation better than Severus's for he had a dry sarcastic wit which, when given the chance to come about, was irresistibly funny and could make anyone's day brighter. His intelligence wasn't lacking in the slightest bit and he challenged and tested her in a way that only a few other people could.

Well, only one person but Lily would rather not go into that. James Potter was the other person and although she found him insufferable and intolerable he was the only person she'd ever met that could actually keep up with her at any given moment, well, besides Severus, of course. He was intelligent, even she couldn't deny that, and he had a certain charm about him that, if she didn't detest him and didn't know all of the mean and harmful things he was capable of, she had no doubt he would be immensely attractive.

Moreover, the fact that Severus was avoiding her was seriously concerning and Lily desperately wanted to know what had happened in the basement. Lily couldn't possible imagine what could have happened in that basement and her burning anxiety to know what had taken place had finally gotten the best of her and she dared ask what had happened.

Mary answered her; willingly shedding all the walls they had built up during their week of silence, and told her, in the best way she could, what had happened. Mary wasn't a biased person, per say, but when something happened such as the incident that occurred in the basement, her nature told her to embellish and over exaggerate the truth for a more positive and favorable outcome.

The story turned out as so: Severus Snape had threatened her life and then preformed an unforgivable on her. He then proceeded to tell her that all muggles were worthless and should never have come about. He also mentioned, in this tale of Mary's, that the only reason he had befriended Lily was to build up a trusting relationship so that, when the time came, and he was able to join forces with the Dark Lord, he could sacrifice her life for his cause.

Lily knew at once this story was full of lies. She knew for a fact Severus's attachment to her and his feelings for her, although it sometimes pained her that she didn't feel as deeply for him as he did for her, and she knew well enough that he had no intentions of "sacrificing her life for his cause." Also, Severus couldn't have preformed an unforgivable curse because if he had he would have been expelled from Hogwarts promptly after. Lily was unsure whether or not he had threatened her life or whether he'd said anything about "mudbloods."

From this story sprung an argument so awful that neither could bear to think about it. Lily was determined to defend Severus. He was her oldest friend and her strongest ally. He was there for her whenever she needed him and he was… hers. It wasn't something she'd go bragging about but she knew that Severus would never answer to anyone else the way he answered to her. She didn't mean this in a mean way but she simply knew it as the truth. There was no easy way around this fact and Lily had long since stopped avoiding it. Severus had his faults; Lily knew well enough but, nevertheless, Lily wouldn't stop defending him especially when she didn't even know the whole story- or even what could possibly be true about that story.

This argument, with all its good intentions (for Lily was sure Mary felt that she was trying to protect Lily), ruined Mary and Lily's friendship for the time being. And it would be awhile before it was restored.

Severus and Lily's relationship was also strained for they knew, subconsciously at least, their time was running short.

* * *

Severus Snape's summer had not gone as planned. There was a routine followed every summer, a routine that had been followed for the three summers. Lily decided to break that routine this year.

Severus spent most of his time in the summer with Lily. He thoroughly enjoyed these summers because these were the times were he didn't have to pretend to be on a side he was not on- he couldn't tell you what side that was because he, himself, didn't even know. But what he did know was that these summers were his safe heavens, a time where he could just spend his days with Lily and only Lily.

But this year Lily had decided to bring home another friend. This peaceful time was now turned to war, a war which he couldn't fight without losing something else: Lily. And he knew that she was something he never wanted to lose even if she only saw him as a friend.

There were three incidents that changed his summer. The first was a letter, the second a visit, and the third a fight.

The first was a letter from Lucius Malfoy. Severus Snape was a favorite friend of his and, for whatever reason, Lucius trusted Snape and treated him as an equal even though he knew Severus's little secret.

The letter went as follows:

_Severus,_

_I have news of "our friend" which I cannot, for obvious reasons, disclose in this letter which is why I intend to visit you. I do not mean to force an invitation from you, and you might as well know one is not needed for me to come, this matter is too urgent to not be delivered right away. I'll be coming in a week's time sometime around noon. As you live in a muggle suburb I'll be arriving by muggle transportation. Be waiting. _

_Lucius _

Severus could imagine Lucius saying those exact words and the amount of disgust that would be laced deep within his voice. He could imagine the hatred in which he said the word muggle and the wicked smile he'd produce while saying it. He knew, all too well, that something was going to happen to an unfortunate muggle while Malfoy visited.

That was indeed, what happened. Upon arrival Lucius produced a bottle of something unpleasant and placed it into a drink. What Severus hadn't expected was that it would be his father's drink and his father's untimely death.

Severus couldn't say he was unhappy with this outcome, though. Severus hated his father, not because he was a muggle, as Lucius thought, but because of everything he made Severus deal with. He was abusive in every form of abuse their possibly was. Severus had many a memory of his father doing something to him- most likely unpleasant.

The amount of nights he'd spent in Lily's tree house hiding from his father was more than he would be able to count to.

It wasn't that Severus was cruel or that he wanted his father to die, it was more relief. It was finally over. But the feeling that someday he'd be strong enough, that someday he'd be good enough did not fade and the overwhelming sense that he had to be someone- someone powerful with great authority- did not fade. And he was forced to live with the monster that his father had created.

This message from "our friend" was simple. The Dark Lord approved of Severus's talents and abilities and was positive that he'd be of great service to him in the coming years before his graduation and even more after he had graduated. He was looking forward to meeting Severus and had high hopes of Severus's "contribution to saving the world."

What they were saving the world from, Severus hadn't a clue.

The last incident, which had taken place in Lily's basement, was sketchy. They both had been at fault- him and McDonald- and he didn't want to relive the fight they had. It was over Lily and what was good for her. The bitch, Mary, thought she knew what was best, even though she'd never know. Lily was his, in a sense, and he knew what was best for her. Well, maybe not, but he certainly knew better than some stupid mudblood who hadn't known Lily as well or as long as he.

But this fight had put strain on Severus and Lily's friendship.

* * *

Mary McDonald hated Severus Snape. He was a Slytherin aspiring to be a Death Eater. He was going to become a murder. A person who murdered people like her and Lily simply because they weren't born to witches and wizards.

She wasn't going to stand for them being friends if it was the last thing she did.

And this summer had been awful. She had to spend it with Lily _and_ Snape. He was controlling and manipulative and he'd brought Lucius Malfoy in close proximity to them. He now knew where Lily lived- and that information was dangerous. She, or her family, could be attacked at any time without any warning.

Then there was that incident in the basement. He thought he knew everything about Lily. He thought he knew what was best for her. Well, Mary had news for him; the best thing for Lily was to get out of Severus's life.

Then Lily had the nerve to stand up for the fucking Death Eater. She defended him like he'd done nothing wrong. Lily might pull a blind eye to Severus's addiction to dark magic and all things evil, but Mary didn't.

Their friendship may be ruined, but Mary would make damned sure that Lily and Severus were no more.

* * *

Regulus Black had enjoyed his summer. There were a few minor things that, given the chance, he would change but overall he could not complain with the outcome of his summer.

Two incidents were all he could think of to change. But it's funny how things that aren't supposed to have any impact on you will change you forever. They were small incidents, these incidents that took place, but they had a huge affect.

The first were mere words, said by his brother. One conversation between the two.

"So it doesn't bother you then, Reg? It doesn't bother you that we'll be on different sides? We'll be pitted against each other! We may even have to kill each other." Sirius had whispered.

There had been no need to whisper, they were alone and their parents had been asleep for a good half hour. The moment just seemed too intense for loud words and they found themselves whispering to each other like they used to when they were little, staying up to be rebellious. But they had done it together and both were conscious of the fact that no matter what they were disagreeing on, because they always disagreed, they were brothers and nothing could ever change that.

"I didn't ask for you to be on a different side!" Regulus and whispered back desperately.

"You have to ask? That's your problem! You're doing what you're told to do, what you're expected to do. You don't know what you're doing and you certainly don't have good reason, you're just going about blindly because it's what mommy and daddy would want you to do. Did it ever occur to you that they're wrong?" Sirius's tone was bitter and his words came out in a rush and if Regulus hadn't know his brother well enough to know he never prepared for anything and always acted before he thought, he would have guessed that he had long since had this speech planned out.

Regulus let these words sink in. What if his parents are wrong? What if his friends were wrong? What if he'd been brought up to believe something that wasn't true? He had no proof that what he'd been taught was right and his brother, who'd been taught the same thing for longer than he had, thought differently.

But Regulus had never really thought there was another side to this story. He never bothered to think about the other half of the story- the one that was screaming that everything he'd done and said was wrong. How could he- it was his duty to honor what his mother and father taught him and he'd be a disgrace if he thought differently. Wouldn't it?

"No." Regulus said firmly. "I never will, either. You're a disgrace."

Sirius walked out of the room and didn't say another word to him all summer.

But Regulus was now deeply confused. He knew what his brother meant and he knew that Sirius only had good intentions. Regulus had always assumed that Sirius hated his parents- for whatever reason- but now he knew that wasn't the reason he chose the path he chose. Maybe he did hate his parents but it was because of what they believed in not because of something they had done.

This information scared Regulus. Sirius had singlehandly turned Regulus's world upside down.

The second incident was simple. He went for a walk on night through the muggle neighborhood. It was midnight; he didn't expect to see anyone about.

He walked in peace for several minutes before he saw him. He was just a boy, innocently swinging on his swing. He looked as if he was enjoying himself; he was going fast and high- it even looked fun.

Regulus decided not to bother him. The boy probably just snuck out to have a little more time on the playground. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary and it certainly wasn't dangerous. Plus, it really wasn't any of his business to begin with. He continued walking.

He walked for about twenty minutes until he passed the park again on his way back. This time the boy had company. Very angry company, to be exact. There was yelling and screaming. Obviously his parents were mad he snuck out. Then Regulus heard a snap of a hand hitting skin. He heard a stifled cry- but it was short and suppressed. Then he heard the snap again and again and then once more.

He didn't know what made him do it, but he found himself stepping between the father and son and calming suggesting the father back away. The father's eyes widened as he realized someone knew his secret and he back away slowly as if he was imagining waking up any second. Then he was gone.

Regulus looked down at the boy. He was going to pat the boy's shoulder and then be on his way. But then he saw his eyes- they were a color he knew very well. They were a smokey grey- the exact color eyes that he and his brother shared.

Upon closer inspection Regulus found himself looking at a mini Sirius. He had the same naturally messy hair that fell down handsomely around his face, he had the same eyes with the same defiant look in them, he had bruises on his face- the same bruises that Regulus had seen and ignored his entire life, and even the joking smile that hid the seriousness that was not something that Regulus had ever seen repeated until now.

The boy was blonde, his eyes were too far apart, his eyelashes too long, his nose too small, and his mouth too slim to actually be Sirius. But Regulus would never see that. He saw his brother. And he saw what he dealt with every day.

Something inside Regulus broke and he knew he was changed forever.

* * *

Sirius Black had always been a troubled soul. It wasn't all his fault- well not entirely. At an early age he took a different path than he was supposed to. He remembered how it had happened. He remembered it all. He knew how one little choice had changed his life forever. He hadn't known what he was doing- he didn't know what he was getting himself into until it was too late. He also knew that life was not fair.

He was seven when it happened. He made a friend with a neighbor- a muggle neighbor. He met secretly with this boy- Zach had been his name- for almost a month. He knew what he was doing was against his parents' wishes but he finally found a friend. And to Sirius, it meant the world to have one single friend.

Zach and Sirius had some things in common: They both came from controversial families, they both had little brothers who deeply annoyed them, and soon they'd both begin to have mysterious bruises.

Zach had the grey eyes, not those of Sirius but close enough to be called similar. He had blonde, straight hair and he always wore the same black jacket.

Their friendship would soon be found out and Sirius would be punished—and so would Zach. You see, the Black's felt like their son had been manipulated into friendship. So they arranged for something terrible to happen to poor, innocent Zach. A liquid poured into his drink that shouldn't have been. It didn't kill him- not immediately, at least. The poor boy was sick for quite some time but, in the beginning, he was not sick enough to hide himself from the beatings received from his half-brother (who was twelve years his senior).

This had started Sirius's hatred for his parents.

This summer had been awful. He'd spent most of it with the parents he was determined to hate but had, fortunately, convinced them to let him stay at the Potter's for three weeks.

This is where all of their problems began.

Hestia Jones lived very close nearby the Potter's and the marauders and Hestia had formed somewhat of a routine in the first week. They would all meet at the nearby park and together they'd find some of way of amusing themselves.

For Sirius it was a little less than heaven, for he not only got to spend time with his three best friends but also with the girl he fancied (he was positive though, that upon their arrival back to the school Lily Evans would talk Hestia out of any feelings she had toward him).

Lily Evans was someone that Sirius did not particularly like. Well, that wasn't exactly the case. He liked her well enough. She was sweet, intelligent, understanding, and quite feisty but she was cruel towards his best friend, James Potter, and by extension himself. He knew he reasons behind her sentiments towards them but he still couldn't help but a strong sense of unease while around her. She would hurt Prongs, he knew it. And Sirius wasn't sure he could bear to watch that.

Anyways during this first week the boys discovered something about Hestia- or, rather, her family. Her sister was a squib.

This, in no way, affected their relationship immediately. It wasn't until Sirius was rejected by Hestia that things changed. (Sirius had made his feelings known and poor Hestia didn't know how to respond. She liked Sirius well enough but only as a friend. She tried her best to be kind in her rejection but Sirius was still hurt).

And that's when the teasing began. Hestia and her sister were treated to as much ridicule as possible and James and Sirius made it their goal to get back at Hestia. Hestia was unaffected by this and always had a nice, witty comeback at hand but her sister, bless her soul, did not have the luxury of a quick mind.

Hestia's sister, Ella, committed suicide during the third week of Sirius's stay. Whether it had been the boy's fault of not, they never knew. But Hestia blamed the marauders for it and it was something she would never forgive them for.

* * *

AN: So I'm not sure why Sirius is such a favorite of mine. Maybe it's the tragic hero thing or just the whole bad boy thing but either way… Anyways, I'm sorry if this chapter was boring to you. It was very fun to write but I understand why it might have been boring.

Your feedback is always welcome. REVIEW!


	8. Sev's heart

AN: The long awaited fight is due! I hope this is interesting!

* * *

"A brilliant man would find a way not to fight a war."  
-Admiral Yamamoto, Pearl Harbor

"We leave now." Bellatrix announced to her fellow Slytherins.

She surveyed her party. There were four in all. Bellatrix, Severus, Regulus, and Malfoy. They hardly seemed to be enough to take on the whole group at once. Obviously they couldn't. Their nine- well, eight, really- victims would surely win.

The idea was to separate the mudbloods first and kill them immediately. It was dire to the situation that they were imagined to still be alive this way the girls could be used as leverage. Lucius was under the impression that Severus could lure them out of the safety of numbers under the pretense of old friendship.

From there he would demand that they join the Dark Lord's cause. The consequences for declining would be severe. The girls would die if they did not join. Alas, it was a cruel trick and it would be difficult to fake proof of life for the girls after a time but it was all they had and therefore, what they would use.

This was their plan. It was unfortunate that Severus was so unwilling to partake. He didn't seem to think the plan reasonable and seemed the girls should be kept alive something that Bellatrix and Lucius disagreed with.

Regulus seemed determined not to state his point of view at all. He was very anxious to get this little battle out of the way and behind them that he did not look for any problems that could arise. He simply knew this would end badly. His brother and his friends would never change sides. Sirius, he knew for a fact, would never and his friend, James Potter, seemed to agree on all levels with Regulus's brother. Lupin, too, "would not shame himself further by even associating with the likes of Death Eaters."

The girls had too much muggle in them for any change of heart to take place. McDonald and Evans were muggles, McKinnon and Jones were half-bloods, and Alice was the only pureblood. Alice, which seemed to be Lucius's greatest hope, would never agree to join. She was applying for an auror job and intended to put everyone of this little group in jail.

But, without further ado, the party, with all their fears and plans attached, set off to do what they had promised to do.

* * *

"Lily can we talk?" James asked.

She gave him a look which clearly answered for her. She turned away. He knew she was going to walk away but he couldn't let her.

"Please! Just listen to me for ten minutes." James begged.

There were drawing attention from the students around them who, for lack of any other sort of entertainment, seemed to thoroughly enjoy Lily and James's fights. They were forming a circle around them. Lily hated them; they were like leeches, drawing pleasure from her pain.

"James, I can't." Lily had tears in her eyes, but she tried in vain to hide it.

James stepped closer and wiped away her tears. Lily unconsciously leaned into his. James's hand remained on Lily's check, cupping it.

"What is going on?" Hestia demanded pushing her way through the crowd. "Don't you all have tests to study for? Honestly, get a life! All of you." She glared at the crowd until they dispersed.

"You'd think they didn't have cable." Hestia snorted.

"Um, Hest? Most of them don't." Lily reminded her.

"Right…" Hestia said desperately trying to cover up for the awkward pause. "Yeah, Lils we have to go."

"We do?" Lily looked confused.

"Yeah, we have to do that thing, remember?" She gave Lily look which clearly said 'I'm trying to save you so go with it.'

"Right. I almost forgot about that."

"Wait, Lily!" James butted in (Hestia glared at him). "We need to talk."

"Maybe later, Potter." Hestia said through gritted teeth.

The two girls left, leaving the Gryffindor dorm rooms.

Peter watched as James followed. Three down, he thought, five more to go. He just needed to get them into the hallways. Peter scanned the room, watching as Sirius tried to talk to Mary. He listened in.

"Mary, I'm sorry." Sirius begged.

"I know you are and I'm sorry too. But we are over. Done with." Mary said without feeling.

"You can't mean that! I know you can't. You love me, I know you do."

"No."

"I know you want to take me back."

"No."

"Don't say no just to make me shut up or make me go away." Sirius demanded. Then his voice got softer, almost a whisper. "Only say no if you don't want to be with me."

There was a pause, enough of a pause to make Sirius think he might have a chance. Mary took a deep breath.

"No."

Sirius looked heartbroken. He walked away dejectedly. He had no idea how James did this; how could he possibly take this much rejection for six straight years?

Peter saw this as his chance. His stomach dropped as he realized what he was about to do.

"Bad luck, mate." Peter said, ironically repeating the same words that Sirius always said to James when he was rejected.

"I'm sorry." Remus joined them.

"Why don't we take a walk?" Peter suggested, feeling guilt run through his veins.

"Whatever." Came Sirius's sullen answer.

Peter and Remus shared a look which clearly expressed concern for Sirius. They started walking for the exit.

"Oh, crap. I forgot about my potions essay!" Peter exclaimed. "You guys go on, I'll catch up with you later."

"But…" Remus began to protest.

"The maps in our dorm." Peter soothed. "I'll catch up with you in thirty minutes."

And Sirius and Remus left. Three more to go.

"Mary." Peter said lightly.

"Um… Hi Peter." Mary said feeling completely awkward.

"I'm sorry about Sirius. He can be a total arse. I would know." Peter sounded so completely concerned about Mary and sympathetic that Mary started feeling more comfortable being around him.

"It's not just that." Mary sighed but encouraged by Peter's reassuring face continued. "After I graduate I'm done with magic. I'm going to live a normal muggle life. It's too much for me and I'm putting too many people in danger."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Peter asked.

"Yes."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. You're an extraordinary witch." Peter was surprised to find that he meant it.

"Hey, have you seen Lily and Hestia?" Mary questioned. "I haven't seen them in awhile."

Peter hated himself but he knew what he had to do. "They're outside. I think they're meeting somewhere."

"Thanks. I'll go look for them."

Two more.

Alice and Marlene were going to be harder to get to. They were in their dorm. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to get them outside.

* * *

Mary had found Lily and Hestia and the three were heading back to the Gryffindor tower. That's when it happened. Severus Snape, wearing his most indifferent face, walked up to the three unaware girls.

He held up his arms and realized he couldn't do it. It didn't matter that he was supposed to or that people were expecting him to kill two out of the three people. It stopped mattering the moment he pictured Lily laying on the floor. He saw her face drained of color and the whites leaving her eyes. Severus knew that he couldn't do this. Ever.

Severus lifted his wand arm. With a shaking hand and a heavy heart he looked at Lily straight in the eyes. His blood turned cold as he realized what he had been ordered to do.

* * *

"James to your left!" Sirius yelled.

The two boys were being attacked by Malfoy and Bellatrix. James and Sirius had met up with each other shortly after Mary and Lily caught up with each other, both accepting defeat for the night.

"Behind you!" James shouted back.

They both shouted countercurses and then attacked. But they were at a disadvantage because Malfoy and Bellatrix were soon joined by Regulus.

The attacks divided. James was pitted against Malfoy and Bellatrix and Sirius was against Regulus. It was brother on brother.

James was caught in the middle- directly between Malfoy and Sirius's dear cousin. They both threw curses at him. James ducked and both curses flew over his head. Malfoy was stunned by Bellatrix and Bellatrix was stunned by Malfoy's curse.

James turned to help Sirius but realized his wand was not needed.

Sirius and Regulus were in a battle- no doubt- but it was a battle of loyalty, and not of life and death. They were circling each other with their eyes locked. Both knew the other wouldn't harm them. In fact both of their wands were safely tucked in their respective pockets.

"You can leave." James declared effectively breaking the silence.

"What?" Regulus asked drawing himself out of the trance he and Sirius were in.

"They'll never know." James said nodding at the two unconscious bodies that were Regulus's fallen comrades.

Regulus gave each one last fleeting look and started running from whence he came.

"You know what they're doing is wrong! Reg, you know it!" Sirius shouted after him.

Sirius thought of what he said and realized it was probably in vain. Little did he know that his "dear brother" had only months left to live. 24 months, to be exact. And then Regulus's life would be taken away for the greater good.

* * *

"Severus, no. Please don't." Lily begged.

"I'm so sorry, Lily. I'm so sorry."

"Go." Lily whispered to her friends. They protested, of course, but Lily explained that he would never hurt her and them being there was only making matters worse.

They left.

"Put your wand down, Sev." Lily commanded.

The ever obedient Severus listened.

"I love you, Lily." Severus began. "I know we are on different sides and I know you know it's too late for me to change but I have to say this-"

"Sev, please don't."

"I have to, Lils." Severus's eyes burned into Lily's. "We may not have much time. I want you to be happy. Stay out of this war. Find some place to hide and stay there. I'll do everything I can to protect you. No matter what."

Severus's promise rang in two more ears then it was intended. James and Sirius had overheard the whole conversation.

"Goodbye, Lily." Severus stepped closer and kissed the top of her head.

Lily had tears streaming down her face. "I never wanted it to be like this, Sev."

"I know." Severus soothed. "Tell me one thing." Severus whispered fervently.

"Anything." Lily responded automatically.

"Tell me if I had a chance. If things had been different."

"I- I think you might have." Lily said sadly.

"But it's too late now." Severus finished bitterly. "You love _him_ now."

"No." Lily protested weakly.

"Don't deny it. I know you do."

And then Severus walked out Lily's life.

* * *

All nine Gryffindors sat in the common room after the fight. They stared at each other. Suddenly they all knew what they'd be facing once they graduated.

They went to bed in their respective dorms each with a heavier heart then the next.

* * *

AN: So I wrote the battle scenes with Bellatrix and Regulus referring to them with their last name but it was really confusing because there are so many people in the Black family…

Sorry this is so short but… I'm not really good at writing about fights, as you've probably noticed. So I'm really sorry if this chapter sucked. Anyways I always appreciate reviews so if you could all be so kind as to leave me a much needed and well awaited review, I'd be forever grateful!

I'd really like to hear your thoughts on Severus Snape. Do you hate him or do you like him? I'd also like to know what you think of Peter. Just your thoughts on what he did.


	9. Revenge

AN: I'm sorry it's been so long! I've been sooo busy. But, to make it better, I will be updating 2-4 more chapters by the 4/30. So without further ado, we shall go on with our story.

* * *

Weeks past and turned into months and the Gryffindors found themselves study for their final test they would ever take under safe wing of Hogwarts. Each was excited and nervous for the new changes.

For Mary, it was simple. She's leaving. And she certainly doesn't plan on coming back. Mary never wanted to be a witch; she never signed up for it or even dreamed about it. It had just happened, six years ago. At first it seemed as if it was a dream come true. She could cast spells and turn toads into goblets. But everything came with a price. This dream world, where she could do anything she'd ever imagined, came with a price. And it's the biggest lesson she's ever learned at Hogwarts: Nothing comes without a price. And the price here is her and/or her friends' lives.

She couldn't handle it.

Life without Sirius would be hard, but she knew she'd deal. She loved him, yes, but not enough to stay in this life. She didn't love him enough to give up who she is. Unfortunately, that's just how life worked. It would take time to heal, but she knew that it wouldn't be too hard to get over.

For Hestia, her goal is something a little more on the wicked side. She wants to crush the marauders. It's been her goal for months now. And she knows just how to do it. It's a simple, four step plan.

Destroy Remus Lupin. He's a werewolf. So obviously the simple thing would be to expose this fact to the entire school. Another selling point is that the entire marauder group knows that Lupin is a werewolf. Public hatred for all.

Destroy James Potter. Also very easy. All Hestia has to do is get Lily a new boyfriend. Which really shouldn't be hard considering she IS Lily Evans. It'll crush him into a million pieces.

Destroy Sirius Black. This one has already been check off. Mary has already rejected him in the worst way she could. Go Mary!

Destroy Peter Pettigrew. This one was by far the trickiest, but Hestia finally believed that she knew what she could use. Hestia saw Pettigrew fraternizing with the Slytherins. They same ones who had attacked them! And he was being pleasant, smiling and laughing. All she had to do was casually mention this to one of the other marauders and given them reasonable proof. Then Pettigrew would be excluded from the group entirely, which would crush tiny little, tag-along Peter.

Then the marauders would be done and her sister would be avenged.

For Marlene the goal was simple. Graduate. Get good grades. Become an Auror. Kick some Death Eater ass.

Alice's goals were a little different. She wants to end these feuds forever. Sure, the Gryffindors had mended some of their wounds, but then she knew that the underline problems are still there.

She would end it or she would die trying.

Lily just wants to finish school and go home. She wants to mend the relationship with her sister and then she wants to go and fight. She wants to grow old with someone who loves her.

Life without James would be easy after awhile. She had lived without him before and she could do it again without any trouble. Lily's an independent person and she didn't believe herself fickle enough to not be able to live without a boy.

* * *

"You."

"Me."

"You sabotaged my relationship with Mary!"

"Your point?"

"You don't give a damn, do you?"

"Nope."

"You don't care that you destroyed the only real relationship I've ever had?"

"Oh, gee, you're right. I'm super sad that Sirius Black got rejected."

"That was your goal, this entire time, wasn't it?"

"You really are a bright one, aren't you?"

"Why do you hate us so much?"

"You really don't know."

"It's been two years, Jones, get over it!"

"Get over it! Get over it? My sister is dead, Black. She's dead because you can't handle an ounce of rejection. You made her feel so low, you know that? You kept going and going and kicking her while she was down. She killed herself, Black. Are you happy now? Are you? She killed herself because you and Potter are low-life scumbags who pick on the weak because it makes them feel big inside. Well you know what? I hate you. The both of you. You two went too far and now I'm going to make you pay. I hope you're in so much pain right now. I hope it hurts to breathe. I hope you feel broken and alone. I hope you lose everything. Because until you do, you'll NEVER understand how I feel."

"So you bring down Mary with me? Nice loyalty."

"No. I'm doing Mary a favor. She deserves a lot better than a murder."

"I didn't kill your sister!"

"No. You just handed her the gun."

* * *

"Lupin. We need to talk."

"Jones. What's up?"

"I know you're secret."

"My secret?"

"Your secret was actually challenging to figure out. I mean most people's secrets are a boy or a girl they like. But yours, man, it was a jaw dropper."

"Jaw dropper?"

"But then again you aren't a normal guy, are you?"

"I'm not?"

"Oh, no. Most people don't like to howl at the moon."

Remus stood speechless.

"Yeah. You know what my favorite part about this whole thing is?"

No response.

"You dragged your friends down with you. They broke the law for you and yet you feel no guilt."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do."

"So what does this mean?"

"Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you share with everyone."

"You can't tell!"

"Yes I can and I will."

* * *

"Hestia is out of control, Lily."

"Really, she hasn't gossiped in almost a week. I'm actually really proud of her."

"She broke Mary and me up."

"What?"

"She wrote a fake letter from a fake boyfriend so we'd break up."

"What?"

"Well she took a pen and paper-"

"Okay I get that but why?"

"She hates us."

"Yeah, she's hated you for awhile now. I just didn't know it was that bad."

"Since fifth year."

"She's never been the same after sister passed on."

All color drained from Sirius's face.

"You didn't have something to do with that, did you?"

No answer.

"Merlin. You killed Ella Jones?"

"No, Lily."

"Stay away from me. Stay the hell away from me!"

* * *

"Lily thinks we're murders." Sirius sighed.

"What!"

"You told her?" Peter demanded.

"Hestia's out of control. I was trying to get help, but then Lily started talking about how Hestia hated us and when that started and I guess it kinda clicked for her."

"She hates us now?" Remus asked. "All of us?"

"I would assume so."

"Shit!" James muttered. "You had to go and make things worse, didn't you?"

"Me?" Sirius demanded. "Hestia could have told her already."

"Yeah but this whole ordeal was your fault." Peter challenged. "You just had to get Hestia back for not liking you. Merlin, you got her sister killed."

"I thought we decided we were in this together." Sirius cried.

"I know if I can stand by that, mate. An innocent girl died because of us. And now I discover it's because her sister didn't like you?" Remus took a step back. "I don't know if I can handle that."

"You guys, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"But it did. We led someone to her grave." James sighed. "We deserve this."

"Moony and I did nothing." Peter pointed out. "This one was all you too."

"I know." James said swallowing. "I know."

* * *

Yep, so that's it for all folks. I'd love reviews. They make me happy!


	10. Unraveling the mystery

AN: Here we go. I hope you're ready for some intense drama.

* * *

"Hestia, can we talk?" Lily spoke quietly as if she was afraid she would disturb something sacred by speaking with her normal voice- and that's how she felt. She was afraid that if she didn't introduce this subject lightly then she would disgrace Ella's honor and possibly ruin her friendship with Hestia forever.

"You knew." Hestia accused. She was bubbling with anger. How could her best friend know what that monster Lupin was and not tell her? How could Lily keep a secret like that from _her_? How could Lily when she knew what Hestia planned to do. She needed her best friend to understand without spoken words that she needed to destroy those gits. Hestia needed Lily to be there, even if Hestia hadn't given a reason. She needed to know Lily had faith in her. Because sometimes Hestia found herself losing faith in herself.

"Knew…?" Lily's heart pounded. What secret had Hestia discovered that they'd been hiding from her?

"Lupin and his ability to howl at the moon."

Lily stood speechless. Of all of the secrets that she'd ever kept from Hestia, this was the biggest one yet. She couldn't have Hestia ruin Remus's life…

But then, hadn't the marauders ruined Hestia's? They were somehow responsible for the death of Ella Jones. Lily didn't know what constituted as right and wrong in a situation like this. Was it right to allow Hestia to ruin four lives, in exchange for the one live which was taken two years before? But it would be wrong for the four boys to get away with driving someone to their grave, wouldn't it? There would be no sense of justice if the marauders would just walk away with only a joke gone bad to ruin their smiles. But on the other side Hestia shouldn't be the one to take justice in her own hands. That wasn't fair, either. Who gave Hestia the right to be the judge, jury, and the executioner? Things never went well when people took matters into their own hands. And there was no sure way to judge what had actually happened. Lily had learned a long time before that when it came to Hestia, you couldn't just talk her word for it. Sometimes you'd get half the story along with a bunch of false accusations and misunderstood actions.

But this was Hestia's sister's life that was in question, and the marauders where known to take certain jokes way too far. All anyone needed to do to prove that was to ask Snape.

Hestia took Lily's silence as consent that she had known about Remus's secret life. Which it was, really. Hestia's eyes darkened and her face glowed with a look that one can only obtain when vengeance is near. Her heart pounded and she felt her excitement rise. Ella was going to be avenged, very soon. Well, one fourth of the vengeance would be delivered.

"This has something to do with Ella, doesn't it?" Lily asked softly.

Hestia looked her straight in the eyes. They both knew the truth now. The marauders had been, indeed, involved in the tragic death that was Ella Jones. Lily couldn't quite believe it. She knew that James and Sirius could be cruel, but she had never seen them go this low. In fact, she thought that was the one place that they would never go. She never, in a million years, could have believed that James would kill someone. She'd always seen him, no matter what else hide under those arrogant, bullying, egotistical, narcistic, toerag layers, as someone on the right side. She seen him as someone who would protect others and she always assumed that he would be one of the many fighting alongside of her in the next years, frantically attempting to stop the evil that came from the cruel hands of the "Dark Lord". But the people on this side weren't murders. These people were saviors.

So what were James and Sirius's true colors? Black or white?

* * *

"James and Sirius? You _must_ be joking." Alice implored.

Alice could not believe this. She really, really couldn't understand the words that were forming in Lily's mouth. James and Sirius weren't capable of committing murder. They just weren't.

Some things didn't add up with Lily's story, either. Ella Jones had committed suicide two years before. If James and Sirius had been a part of her death, why would they use a muggle knife? Although, it would be a good way to disguise their true intentions, Alice doubted this is what would have happened if they wanted someone to be killed. James and Sirius, if they were these hideous monsters that Hestia and Lily were claiming that they were, would want recognition. You see they were the kind of people that wanted fame and glory for what they did. They both loved to claim their hand in every prank they partook in, and if they were these criminal masterminds, they would surely show their bloody hand with a grin.

In less they hadn't meant for it to happen. Somehow Alice knew there was something more to this story. It could be the amount of knowledge of James and Sirius's characters or it could be her awesome sense of perception, but either way, Alice smelled something hidden in the air and she wanted desperately to find out what, exactly she had been missing.

"I'm not joking." Lily sighed. "They had something to do with it. I know that much."

"But that doesn't mean they killed her. They could have just been in the room when it happened."

"I know. I don't know what to believe. The only information Hestia is giving me is that it was their fault," Lily spoke gravely, knowing that there was a lot at stake. "But we both know how Hestia can be. I don't know what is the truth and what isn't. And it's not like the marauders are known for their truthfulness, either."

"It's just one big mess." Alice acknowledged, glad to know that Lily shared her doubts.

"Ugh, but if they are, then I've snogged a murder."

* * *

James sat on his bed. He hadn't slept at all the night before and he didn't plan on sleeping any on this night either. He didn't see himself sleeping anytime soon, as a matter of fact. Somehow his life had been ruined within the last few days. The girl of his dreams finally gives him a chance and he blew it, in attempt to play hero; old scars are cut at once again as Hestia screams justice for her lost sister; the marauders are facing their end as secrets are revealed; and what's worse, there's still more to be revealed. After everything that they have lost, after ever thing that has happened, there is still more to lose. If certain secrets get out- about Remus and their moonlight adventures- then Remus is exposed as a beast and the other three marauders are faced with jail time.

But even considering that, there is a lot more to discover about the marauders. Remus's secret is the biggest, by far, but there are still skeletons in their closets. And let it be told, it's a damn big closet.

James knew he was leaving Hogwarts for the night. He had to make sure that the closet was locked tight. Which meant an impromptu meeting with one of its keepers: Ashton McKinnon.

Ashton worked in Hogsmead and had an apartment only a few short miles away from the school. Which was very convenient for James. He quickly grabbed his invisibility cloak, an actual cloak to keep him warm, his wand, and a hat before he left his dorm room and headed to the witch statue. Quickly he said the password and ducked into the tunnel. He ran the entire tunnel as fast as he could; when he came to his destination, he quickly appertated to a destination that very few knew.

Ashton had chocolate brown eyes, spiky blonde hair, and horn-rimmed glasses. He didn't resemble his sister at all, except for the mouth, which was exactly the same. He was standing in the dark, right next to the rocks and fire pit.

James knew this place well. In fact, he'd helped create it only four years back. It existed only half in the real world and half in the fictional world that he created. It was designed to look like a park, but the magic had gone wrong at some point and allowed for no sunlight. The marauders had substituted torches, hanging at random intervals, for this. The effect was chilling, with random pools of eerie light and shadows casting left and right. The place was never bright, which suited it nicely for it only had a bad reputation. There was a fire pit in the center, with rocks molded into the shape of chairs around it.

It was supposed to be a meeting place, one where the four could go to wind down and give into whatever it was that their hearts desired. It was half based on reality; whatever the boys wanted, this world created. But in spite of the hope that it seemed to glimmer, it was a dark place that gave one false hope and a horrid realization that it was to something less grand that one would have to return. It made a heart turn to ice when the realization hit that life wasn't like this. It a false pretense only as strong as a game of pretend: it could never be real.

The idea of staying, living within this world to keep what you desired, had crossed all of the five boys who had entered many a-time. The fear though, of being stuck, or never being able to return to the real world, kept them only to occasional visits. The world each boy created did not contain real people, only allusions meant to bend to their every will. It became disheartening after awhile, knowing what was going to happen before it did. It broke a person to have everything be fake. Nothing was real, and no one could handle the truth that they were completely alone in the world they had created.

Ashton stood next to James' chair. He had been waiting for James.

"Good. You're here." Ashton's voice rang out, cold as ice.

James knew something was very, very wrong.

* * *

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Peter whispered, tapping the wand that had helped create.

The three boys searched the map frantically, desperately looking for the last quarter of their foursome.

"He's not here." Remus muttered helplessly. "He's left Hogwarts."

"That's not like him." Sirius cried. "He wouldn't leave without telling one of us."

"He was pretty upset," Remus reasoned before continuing. "Plus I think he knows something that we don't. He mentioned that the world was crashing down earlier. I thought he was kidding but…"

"Where would he go?" Peter asked softly, fearing the worst.

"Home?" Sirius suggested.

"And say what to his parents?" Remus sighed.

"Hogsmead?" Peter guessed. It was a good enough guess, James'd have to leave the grounds through Hogsmead.

"And do what?" Sirius snapped. "Hogsmead isn't fun by yourself."

"Unless you're going to get drunk or would like to be alone." Peter smirked, feeling rather proud of his quick rebuttal. Then he felt guilt; he had betrayed his friends.

"Maybe," Remus half-agreed, knowing that James had been feeling pretty low lately, but Remus also knew that James did not like to drowned his problems in alcohol. It had always disgusted James would other people had done it, but he had also known James to be a bloody hypocrite at times without even realizing it. Remus sighed, knowing that he wasn't getting anywhere.

Where would James go if he were trying to forget all of the problems that life presented him with? And then it hit Remus. But James wouldn't, would he? The marauders had sworn to never return to that god awful place ever again. James wouldn't go there just to escape a few problems at school, but even as the thought crossed his mind, Remus knew that it wasn't minor problems that they were facing. Remus's secret was going to be exposed, along with James, Sirius, and Peter's and all three would face expulsion and possibly even prison.

But how could James want to leave this world entirely?

* * *

"What's up with you and Alice?" Marlene asked carefully, bouncing on the bed next to Mary.

"What do you mean?" Mary returned after swallowing a piece of chocolate.

Neither girl had seen their other three friends in awhile and both girls were feeling a sense of abandonment. They both knew that the other three were keeping secrets from them. It hurt; it cut them both very deep to know that they weren't trusted, but it also felt very nice to know that they weren't alone and they had each other.

"You know what I mean." Marlene gave Mary a look. "You two used to be super close. You told each other everything and now the tension between you guys is unbearable."

Mary stayed quiet.

"What. Happened?" Marlene asked through gritted teeth.

Marlene was sick of this game. She didn't want to keep secrets anymore. Ever since fifth year the girls each had their own secrets, excepting Alice, who's only two secrets were a crush on Frank Longbottom and strict parents who believed in older Wizarding traditions, but it was time that these games came to a stop. There was no point in all of these secrets and lies. It was driving everyone insane. She was sick of talking of petty things, and, quite frankly, she was positive that everyone else was, too.

"I think it has to do with Longbottom." Mary laughed. It was beyond her grasp of understanding why Alice chose Frank Longbottom to like. He was an insufferable git with a stick shoved so far up his ass that Mary was quite certain he wouldn't know the definition of the word fun if it had bit him on the butt. And God forbid, someone break a rule, he'd go insane. Also, his harsh feelings towards muggleborns did not, under any circumstances, help his chances with Mary.

"Why can't you just accept it? She likes him. It's not that hard."

"But why?"

"She sees something in him. Just like she saw something in Lily, Hestia, you, and me. You know how Alice is; she sees so much that everyone else misses. The fact that Alice likes him means that she knows something about that boy that we don't. It's something good. I have in him simply because Alice does."

They both knew the truth within Marlene's words, because while Alice was the most perceptive between Hestia, Lily, Marlene, and Mary, Marlene was often the only one who could decipher Alice at any given point.

"So, we're cool with sweet Alice liking that git?" Mary asked, completely shocked.

"We have to be." Marlene corrected.

* * *

"Snape!" Hestia called, desperately. "I just want to talk."

"What?" Snape asked angrily, as if he was annoyed simply by her presence, and he was.

Hestia knew that if she could manage to form this alliance, it would be an uneasy alliance. It would not form a friendship (not that she wanted one with that slimy git), but it would get both of their jobs done. It was common knowledge that Snape wanted to bring down the marauders just as much as Hestia did. Hestia, being the intelligent witch that she was, realized it would be easier if they worked together.

"We have some similar goals, you and I. I was hoping we could work together." Hestia said with a smirk.

Severus was stunned. If Hestia was asking what he thought she was asking, then she wanted to betray her best friends and would put Lily in danger. Severus would not, under any circumstances, allow for Lily to be hurt. He would do whatever it took to keep Lily safe, even if it meant ruining a potential ally.

"The Dark Lord wouldn't be interested in _you_." Severus lied easily, it was a natural talent of his.

"Well good_. I'm_ not interested in _him_ either." Hestia responded disgustedly, as if she wanted a part in _that_. That comment alone almost made Hestia rethink her offer. Almost.

"Then what are you interested in?" Severus asked, now curious. He wondered what she wanted.

"Bringing down the marauders. Interested?" Hestia didn't have to wait for his response; she already knew what it was. They both knew that he'd help her.

"Very." And thus began a very messed up alliance.

* * *

"I'm going to talk to them." Alice announced.

Lily and Alice had been discussing the marauders in the library for the last two hours. They hadn't come up with much, both finding it hard to accept that they could even be a part of the death of poor Ella Jones. Neither could move past it, which made the process of trying to uncover the truth rather difficult. But Alice had enough of this silent game. She was going to speak to them because if she didn't she was fairly certain she would go insane. She wanted to hear both sides of the story, and then she'd make an educated guess on what really happened. Or, better yet, if Remus had a level head on this whole situation she could hear the real story and be done with it.

"Tell me how it goes?" Lily asked. She didn't want to come with. She couldn't face James. Their relationship was too messed up for any kind on conversation to flow and Lily did not want to ruin it further by accusing him of murder (though if it was discovered that he was, in fact, a murder, she didn't want any relationship with him at all).

"I was hoping you'd come with," Alice, though, after receiving a look for Lily, realized she wouldn't be coming. "Very well."

Alice walked quickly to the boy's dorm. She didn't bother to knock; she just entered, not having the patience to wait for a response. The three boys were started but, mercifully, were not in an indecent state.

"We don't have time, Alice." Sirius stated, but not rudely. He really did like Alice.

"Well I suggest you make time. I talked to Lily, who talked to Hestia, who's quite certain you killed her sister." Alice stared each of the three boys down. "I think it'd be wise for you to start talking."

Alice waited. The three boys looked at one another, desperately trying to figure out what to do. Sirius wished James was here; he would know what to do. Peter couldn't decide what side he was on. You didn't want to cross Alice Prewett, but he certainly couldn't risk crossing James and Sirius again. He didn't want to feel unequal an unimportant again. Remus knew that the truth had to come out eventually, and he would think now would be a good time if he wasn't rushing off to find James.

Sirius spoke, breaking the silence. "It was my fault." He admitted. "I liked Hestia and she rejected me. So James and I started a war between Hestia and Ella."

Sirius shook his head, trying to hide the tears threatening to fall.

"Ella wasn't as quick-minded as them." Remus added gravely. "And she didn't have any magic, either. She was just an average girl, and I think…"

He trailed off, not able to finish. Remus wasn't sure that he knew the right words to describe what had happened. He remembered that Hestia hadn't wanted to fight with Sirius and James. She had only wanted to be their friend. And when they got the news, they saw Hestia crying… The boys didn't know what to do. They had gone to offer their condolences and Hestia had turned on them. It wasn't their fault, per say; they had never wanted to harm Ella. They never really wanted to harm anyone. It was just a few mean words. It wasn't supposed to end this way.

"She resented us." Peter squeaked. "She wanted magic as well, but she wasn't blessed with that gift. She was never a happy girl; she was always sulking. I think we pushed over the edge. Yes, we. Only Remus stayed out of it. The rest of us, well, we taunted them both. James didn't really say much to Ella, but Sirius… He was upset and-"

"I was an ass. I had nothing against Ella except that she was Hestia's sister." Sirius sighed. "I cried that night. I didn't sleep at all that night and I wept. I never wanted her to die. I never… I didn't want this to happen."

Alice looked at Sirius. They had teased Ella? Honestly, that didn't surprise her. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and relaxed. Hestia was angry, yes, but it wasn't for the right reasons.

"Have you apologized?" Alice inquired.

"Hestia didn't want to speak to us. We thought it'd be best to give her space." Remus frowned. "We shouldn't of."

"You were right, Moony." Peter said. "You were right all along."

"I think you need to talk to her." Alice said quietly.

* * *

"I don't like this place." Ashton commented dryly.

"Then why are you here?" James questioned. Why had he even come here? James could have easily gone to Ashton's apartment, so why did he come here. How had he known that Ashton would be here?

"I knew you were coming." He said simply. He didn't bother to explain anything. James Potter would open his mouth and he have to listen to his rant. Ashton wasn't here for that. He simply wanted to make sure his secret was kept well enough, and then he'd be on his way. He expected that was why James was here as well: to protect his secret.

"You should tell someone." James began. They both knew this lecture well enough; they'd been through it so many times that both had lost count a year before (not that they had been counting, of course).

"But you know I won't." Ashton sighed. This was exactly why he had avoided him for so long. He didn't want to hear about what he should have done. It was over and done with. James should let it go.

"Fine." James sighed. It was always the same with him. He was slowly dying, but he didn't care enough to see anyone. "It's because of this place, you know. You have spent too much time here. I think… This place is bad. It was meant to be something that isn't possible."

"How am I supposed to tell someone how I got this… affection? Hmmm? I'm not supposed to mention this world to anyone. That's why you came back here, was it not? You wanted to check to make sure I would keep my mouth shut."

It was true. James had come to make sure their secret little world was kept a secret.

"I think we're going to destroy it." James said quietly. It was an idea he had been toying with for quite some time. He wanted it gone. He never wanted to step foot in this evil place ever again. But he also didn't want some innocent bystander to come across it, either. He wanted it gone from existence, where it couldn't do any damage to anyone ever again.

"You treat this place like its evil," Ashton caught James' eye. "It's only evil if you are or you're dreams are."

He was right, again. This place was only there to live out ones dreams, but James still found it a depressing place, often leading to the dissatisfaction of an empty dream. Here you could have everything, at a price. It wasn't real and soon it would just be a memory. It was beautiful, in a way, but it was also dangerous. There were still many things that James was sure he didn't know about this place. He had the sinking feeling that this place was an allusion and that there was something deeper and darker than what was already there.

"You're secret is safe, James." Ashton acknowledged.

Then Ashton was gone with only a loud crack for an exit.

* * *

There was loud crack, and James now found himself surrounded by his three best friends. They all stared at him in disbelief, wondering what the hell had inspired him to come here. Remus looked disappointed, Sirius look hurt, and Peter looked confused but otherwise unfazed.

"Fancy meeting you here." Sirius said coolly.

He was right pissed at James. How the hell could he be stupid enough to do this? How could he leave this life in order to… to… well, Sirius couldn't really fathom what James was going to do here, actually. All Sirius knew is that if James stayed here much longer, he may be stuck here forever.

Besides his anger, Sirius was feeling rather uncomfortable. He hated this place so much. It was almost like the world, but different enough where you could easily see the difference. He had always hated this place. It had been such a good idea, but it fell sort of its intended goals. In fact, this whole place was his idea, three very long years before. But now, for the love of Merlin, he couldn't quite figure out why. Why this place hadn't been what he hoped? He sighed, knowing that he'd have to deal with this little monster he'd created.

"Uh, yeah. Listen guys, I can explain." James said looking around.

"Yes, you will. Back in our dorm room. Away from this place." Remus said anxiously, already wondering how long Prongs had been there.

He was worried sick. What the hell had happened to him that he was willing to sacrifice his life as he knew it? Remus knew that things we falling apart but they couldn't… It wouldn't… He couldn't leave this world because of it, could he?

"You don't think I planned on staying here, did you?" James chuckled. "C'mon, I was the one who suggested that we never return."

"Er, right, mate." Sirius mumbled. "I knew you wouldn't the whole time."

"You're a bloody lying git!" Peter called out. "You were raving mad, spitting really- by the way some of it got in my eye! - ranting about how James couldn't seriously be leaving this world over some girl!"

"Er, sorry, Prongs?" Sirius said, looking down guiltily.

James just shook his head and suggested that they left this retched place. And so they did, blissfully unaware of the madhouse that they were returning to. Hestia had plans to ruin their night- and very possibly their lives.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the cliffhanger but this chapter is a lot longer than I intended. I hope you all enjoyed it and would really like it if you review!

Do it for Sirius (c'mon, you all know _that'_s a tempting offer).

Also, I want to know what you think is going to happen (I want to know that this story is getting predictable- because we couldn't have that, now could we?)

Thanks for reading.


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